With Super Bowl LVIII almost upon us and big anticipation for headline act Usher hitting the stage between the action as the Chiefs and 49ers go up against each other, it’s hard to believe that some stars have previously refused to participate in the Super Bowl’s halftime show, citing reasons from disagreement with the sports league’s political views, lack of interest in the theatrics of the show, or being too busy on the day.
Here are some big-name artists who refused to be a part of the biggest day for football.
Rihanna
In 2019, Rihanna told Vogue that she rejected the NFL’s invitation to perform at the halftime show.
“I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler,” she told the magazine. “There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.
She performed a u-turn and was the star performer for the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show, with a surprisingly big reveal on stage.
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Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift was rumored to be performing at the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show until TMZ reported that sources close to the artist revealed she turned down the invite to focus on rerecording all six of her first six albums after Scooter Braun sold the rights to her masters in 2020.
She is expected to attend the 2024 edition, but as a famous fan with tight end romance.
Jay-Z
Although Jay-Z is the executive producer of the halftime show for the upcoming Super Bowl, he once declined to perform after he was told who he had to perform with.
“I said, ‘No, you get me.’ That is not how you go about it, telling someone that they’re going to do the halftime show contingent on who they bring,” he told The New York Times in a 2020 interview. “I said forget it. It was a principle thing.”
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Adele
The booming vocals of Adele would certainly wind up a Super Bowl audience, but when addressing rumors that she was performing, she admitted the show wasn’t for her.
During her stop at Los Angeles’ Staples Center on her 2016 tour, the artist told her audience, “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.”
