Seven artists have reportedly ‘refused’ to perform at the Super Bowl’s half-time show for a range of reasons.
On Sunday (February 8), the most highly anticipated event on the American sporting calendar will be played with the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks set to go head-to-head at Super LX, which will take place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
And despite the event at its core being a sporting occasion, several spectators will tune in for the iconic half-time show.
In recent years, world-renowned musicians such as Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna and Usher have had the honour of performing during the interval, but this year it is Latin American artist Bad Bunny’s turn.
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Bad Bunny - formerly Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio – performs mostly using Spanish and has been a critic of Donald Trump and the US government’s immigration policy, especially ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
And it remains unclear whether he will use the occasion to voice his opposition to ICE as he did at the recent Grammys ceremony, during which he used his Album of the Year acceptance speech as a platform to say “ICE out”.
Given the prestige of the event, you’d be forgiven for thinking almost every artist on the planet would jump at the chance of performing at the Super Bowl, but this is not always the case.
According to Business Insider, the opportunity has been turned down by seven artists.
British singer Adele said in 2016 that she was asked to perform at the 2017 halftime show but ultimately turned it down.
"First of all, I'm not doing the Super Bowl. I mean, come on, that show is not about music. And I don't really — I can't dance or anything like that. They were very kind, they did ask me, but I said no," she told The Sun in 2016.
Pink was reportedly asked to perform at the 2019 edition, but also said no.
Meanwhile, Jay-Z and Roc Nation are involved with selecting the artist who plays, but speaking in 2020, the rapper and producer explained how he told organisers to “forget it” when they asked him to bring Kanye West and Rihanna out to perform ‘Run This Town’.
Speaking to the New York Times, he said: "That is not how you go about it, telling someone that they're going to do the halftime show contingent on who they bring. I said forget it. It was a principle thing.”
Taylor Swift was reportedly offered the 2023 Super Bowl, but she turned the opportunity down to focus on re-recording her six albums.
Her fiancé, Travis Kelce, was part of the Kansas City Chiefs team that reigned victorious on that occasion.
Hip-hop duo Outkast supposedly turned down the gig, with Big Boi saying his partner Andre 3000 “didn’t want to cut the songs” after organisers requested the duo make their tunes slightly shorter.
Jessica Simpson, Ocean Soul, Spirit of Houston, Diddy, Kid Rock, Nelly, Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson performed at the 2004 Super Bowl instead.
American rapper Cardi B also previously told the Associated Press that she declined the offer to perform at the 2019 Super Bowl due to her support of Colin Kaepernick.
In 2016, Kaepernick kneeled during the US national anthem to protest against police brutality and racial injustice.
He opted out of his San Francisco 49ers contract in 2017 and has never been signed by another NFL team.
"I got to sacrifice a lot of money to perform. But there's a man who sacrificed his job for us, so we got to stand behind him," Cardi B said.
Finally, American music icon Dolly Parton told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023 that she’d turned down the Super Bowl on several occasions.
“I've been offered that many times,” Parton said.
“I couldn't do it because of other things, or I just didn't think I was big enough to do it, to do that big of a production.
"When you think about those shows, those are big, big productions. I've never done anything with that big of a production. I don't know if I could have."
Topics: Super Bowl, NFL
Luke Davies