Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show draws 125 FCC complaints
In total, 125 viewers sent complaints to the FCC in the wake of Lamar's performance last month as the Philadelphia Eagles took on the Kansas City Chiefs at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, according to records obtained this week by The Hill as part of a Freedom of Information Act request.
The vast majority of the messages to the FCC took issue with the 37-year-old music star's lyrics and 'provocative dancing' at the big game, which was attended by President Trump. The matchup broke ratings records, with nearly 128 million viewers tuning in, according to Nielsen.
'The halftime show was terrible with the language and gestures. My younger kids did not need to see and hear this!' one viewer from Lenox, Ill., wrote.
'That was the worst halftime show that I have ever seen,' another viewer from Catawba, N.C., wrote to the FCC. 'I'm glad that I couldn't understand most of what Kendrick Lamar was saying because I read the lyrics to a few of his songs, and I am appalled. It was divisive, downgrading, and filled with profanity. It is absolutely not appropriate entertainment for all ages.'
'For the next Super Bowl, please consider hiring musical entertainment that is family friendly and not socially or politically centered,' another viewer wrote. 'It would be a nice change to have entertainment that truly shows what America should be; family, country, decency and respect. It is tiresome to have to send children out of the room during what should be a family event due to possible vulgarity and inappropriate language/gestures,' the message said.
It was unclear from the complaints which words viewers were objecting to — profanity is typically censored during halftime performances.
Multiple viewers condemned the performance — which featured cameos from Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam and tennis legend Serena Williams as Lamar rapped his Drake diss track 'Not Like Us' — as 'racist' and 'anti-white.'
'All these people complain about racism and if the Super Bowl halftime show isn't racist then I don't know what is. There wasn't one white person in the whole show,' one person from Ocean City, Md. wrote.
'They get away with it but if it was all white it would be a different story. The halftime show should have both Black and white and be appropriate for everyone. This was a disgrace and it gets worse every year,' the viewer said.
'I want to know why is it that there was not one white person involved???? I felt discriminated against and why was Uncle Sam Black when Uncle Sam is white?' another complaint from Daytona Beach, Fla., said.
'I felt very discriminated. It made me feel very uncomfortable,' the person added.
'A varied selection of talented performers would have been much better and all inclusive,' an Easton, Pa., viewer wrote.
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