Kid Rock, who headlined the TPUSA halftime show at the same time Bad Bunny was running things at Super Bowl LX, has shared his views on Jay-Z’s 2020 performance at the NFL event, calling him a “DEI hire.” While discussing the unrest surrounding Bad Bunny’s stint on February 8, the rapper tried to explain why recent Super Bowls have been marred by political controversies, before bringing up Jay-Z.
Kid Rock comments on Jay-Z after halftime show
The “All Summer Long” singer noted that the atmosphere around the Super Bowl changed in 2016 when “Colin Kaepernick took a knee” to protest racial injustice and police brutality.
During his February 9 appearance on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, Kid Rock opined that this prompted Roger Goodell, the long-term NFL commissioner, to ponder, “How do I get out of this and keep making the tens upon millions of dollars a year that I make in a predominantly male Black league.”
In response, Goodell hired Jay-Z to lead the proceedings at the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show, according to Kid Rock’s assumptions. “But it seemed like there’s a little bit of a DEI hire there going on, you know, to kind of like, you know, like, oh, you know, Black guys love Jay-Z. And of course, I’m not that ignorant. I know a lot of us love Jay-Z, not just Black guys. But in the league where he had this problem, it seemed like, oh, you know, we’ll bring him in,” the five-time Grammy nominee claimed.
Kid Rock further added, “And so, you know, Jay-Z is not going to take that position of power and that money, So, you know, then they convene in — that was a not for profit league until, you know, they quietly got rid of that tax exempt status so Roger did not have to disclose his salary.”
The “Bawitdaba” crooner wrapped up his account on the fan-favorite rapper by stating, “So he brings in Jay-Z. What’s Jay-Z going to do? He’s going to do right by his base.” Additionally, he even shared a similar sentiment regarding Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl performance.
Notably, Kid Rock has himself performed at a Super Bowl halftime show. He was a part of the 2004 iteration with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson.
Originally reported by Apoorv Rastogi on Mandatory.
