Super Bowl 59 is set to kick off this weekend, and you have to be living under a rock not to know Kendrick Lamar is headlining. On Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, the Philadelphia Eagles will take on the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch of Super Bowl 57, this time being held in the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Kansas City Chiefs are looking to become the first team to win three Super Bowls in a row.
The fanbases of the Eagles and Chiefs are no doubt excited about the possibility of being the city to hoist the NFL’s championship trophy, but the rest of the viewing public tunes in for the commercials and the Super Bowl halftime show. This year, Kendrick Lamar is coming off one of the most dominant years an artist has had in hip-hop history, which is the byproduct of the Los Angeles rapper being embroiled in a nearly year-long rap battle with one of music’s biggest pop stars, Drake.
The battle included chart-topping songs, an album from Lamar, and a defamation lawsuit from Drake against Universal Music Group, the record label that distributes music from both Lamar and Drake. SZA has been announced as co-headliner for the halftime show (exciting in its own right), but I’d bet nearly everybody — including Drake — is mostly waiting to see if Lamar’s finishing move of a record, “Not Like Us,” will be performed for the hundreds of millions who tune in for the halftime show.
But now a group of Republican lawmakers from Louisiana, where the Super Bowl is taking place, are hoping that the NFL will ensure that the show is “family-friendly.” In a letter sent from the office of State Senator Valarie Hodges (co-signed by 16 other lawmakers and 15 pro-family groups) to the chairs of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and the Louisiana Stadium Expo District, Hodges laid out a series of reasons why the signers all have concerns about the Super Bowl halftime show and the potential for inappropriateness…in New Orleans.
In the letter, Hodges specifically points out performances by both Jennifer Lopez (2020; co-headlined by Shakira) and Rihanna (2023), suggesting that they were lewd, inappropriate and contained offensive language, causing issues for the parents of children trying to watch the show. The letter even includes mention of the 2004 Super Bowl, where Janet Jackson’s now famous “wardrobe malfunction” occurred as further proof that many halftime shows have been less than family-friendly, and have been that way for quite some time.
“At the 2023 halftime show, performer Rihanna was shown groping herself while she sang song lyrics that were so offensive that few Louisiana adults could read those lyrics before an audience without shame,” the letter states.
While Hodges believes that perhaps those other halftime shows may have been acceptable to residents of the states where the Super Bowl happened, acts that contain what she and her co-signers believe are lewd or inappropriate are not welcomed by the majority of parents in Louisiana. She asks that those in charge of the show ensure that the halftime show is in accordance with “decency standards” for the state of Louisiana and, thus, family-friendly.
The letter states, “We realize that these past vulgar performances may have been acceptable to the residents of those states where those Super Bowls were held but, in Louisiana, these lewd acts are inappropriate for viewing by children, objectify women, and are simply NOT welcomed by the majority of Louisiana parents.”
There is no word yet from the recipients of the letter about whether they’ve contacted the NFL or Kendrick Lamar’s camp to request a visual performance and set list that would be deemed “family-friendly.”
