Lil Wayne vows to never perform at Super Bowl halftime show

The NFL has missed its chance to book Lil Wayne for the Super Bowl halftime show.

Last September, the New Orleans native got candid about his disappointment over not being chosen for the halftime show held in his hometown. Now, the rapper has told Rolling Stone that he is turning his back on the organization, with a vow to never perform at the event after being passed over for the slot in 2025. 

“They stole that feeling,” Wayne told the outlet. “I don’t want to do it. It was perfect.”

The “Kant Nobody” rapper went on to detail the efforts he put into securing the gig, claiming that the league encouraged him to be more public in the lead up to the halftime show announcement.

“To perform, it’s a bunch of things they’re going to tell you to do and not do, asses to kiss and not kiss,” he said. “If you notice, I was a part of things I’ve never been a part of. Like [Michael] Rubin’s all-white parties. I’m doing shit with Tom Brady. That was all for that.”

He continued, “You ain’t never seen me in them types of venues. I ain’t Drake. I ain’t out there smiling like that everywhere. I’m in the stu’, smokin’ and recording.”

Despite Wayne’s best efforts, Apple Music, Roc Nation, and the NFL announced last September that Kendrick Lamar would headline the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show. Wayne claimed that he later got an apology from someone at the NFL who allegedly told him “we ain’t in charge” of the Super Bowl halftime show.

“All of a sudden, according to them, they got curved,” Wayne said. “So, I’m going to have to just settle with whatever they say.”

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to the NFL and Roc Nation for comment.

The February 9 performance was ultimately a rousing success, earning Lamar further acclaim and securing his victory in his ongoing feud with fellow rapper, Drake. But Wayne said he didn’t even see it happen, as he was too busy playing pool and smoking outside with rapper Lil Twist. 

“Every time I looked, it was nothing that made me want to go inside and see what was going on,” Wayne said.

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Within days of the announcement that Lamar would headline the show, Wayne took to Instagram to voice his disappointment. 

“That hurt a lot. I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown. For just automatically mentally putting myself in that position, like someone told me that was my position,” he said at the time. “I thought there was nothing better than that spot, that stage, and that platform in my city. It broke me. I’m just trying to put me back together.”