In February, Kendrick Lamar graced the stage at Super Bowl LIX for his highly anticipated Halftime Show alongside SZA. Unfortunately, however, not everyone was impressed. According to TMZ Sports, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received various complaints about the performance. The outlet obtained all 125 of them, which range from gripes about inappropriate language and dance moves to grievances about a "personal vendetta" getting thrown into the mix.
At least 10 of the complaints specifically took issue with Kendrick dissing Drake with his short rendition of "Not Like Us." This is the same song Drake sued Universal Music Group (UMG) over, accusing the label of knowingly spreading the "false and malicious" narrative that he's an alleged pedophile. It's also the same one Kendrick took home a staggering five Grammy awards for the weekend prior.
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Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime Show
Reportedly, Kendrick Lamar wasn't the only person on the receiving end of smoke either. Some accused Serena Williams of promoting "gang affiliation" with her role in the show. Two complaints also had to do with Kanye West's commercial, which aired in three markets. While this may seem like a lot of complaints, the show was viewed by a whopping 133.5 million people, making 125 just a drop in the bucket. For reference, the FCC got just over 100 complaints about Rihanna's iconic 2024 performance. Shakira and Jennifer Lopez's 2020 show got over 1300.
Shortly after Kendrick's polarizing performance, Dave Free came to his defense during a conversation with The Wall Street Journal. “We wanted this performance to have a cinematic and theatrical element to it. We can confidently say that there’s no Super Bowl performance that’s quite like this one," he said in part. “The feel of it is Black America. What does Black America look like, and how to control that narrative of what it means to be Black in America versus what the world’s perspective of that is."
