Lil Wayne said it “hurt a whole lot” to be passed over as headliner for the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show, especially since the big game will be taking place in his hometown of New Orleans.
Wayne shared a video message about the situation on Friday, just under a week after Kendrick Lamar was tapped to helm the big show. Wayne asked fans to “forgive” him for the delay, saying, “I had to get strength enough to do this without breaking.”
The visibly emotional rapper didn’t mention the Super Bowl Halftime Show by name, but it was obvious what he was talking about. Earlier this year, he made his ambitions clear in an interview, acknowledging that he hadn’t received a call yet but stressing: “We’re praying, we’re keeping our fingers crossed, and working hard… I just wanna make it hard for them not to highlight the boy.”
But losing out on the gig, Wayne said, “broke me, and I’m just trying to put me back together.”
The rapper accepted some of the blame for keeping his expectations so high. “I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown,” he said. “And for automatically mentally putting myself in that position, like somebody told me that was my position. So I blame myself for that. But I thought there was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city. And so it hurt. It hurt a whole lot.”
Wayne expressed his sincere gratitude to all his supporters, saying, “Your words turned into arms and held me up when I tried to fall back.” He added, “I feel like I let all of y’all down by not getting that opportunity, but I’m working on me, and I’m working. So, thank you.”
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The decision to pick Lamar over Wayne for Super Bowl LIX felt especially pointed this year, not just because of the New Orleans connection but because it seemed to tap into several strains of longstanding and, in some cases, ongoing beef. During the late 2000s/early 2010s, Wayne and Jay-Z — who’s had a hand in producing the Super Bowl Halftime Show since 2019 — appeared to be competitive frenemies, but those tensions seemed to have settled in recent years. Wayne is also, of course, a close associate of Drake, who spent most of this summer feuding with Lamar.
After Lamar was announced as headliners, many of Wayne’s longtime allies and collaborators spoke out against the choice, including Birdman and Nicki Minaj. “Denying a young black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason but your ego,” Minaj wrote on X. “Your hatred for BIRDMAN, Drake & Nicki got you punishing Lil Wayne?!?!!! LIL WAYNE!!!!!!!!!! THE GOAT?!!!!!!!!!!!”