Jay-Z is headlining the Super Bowl halftime show — and his own company picks the performer. Fair pick or a conflict of interest?
The NFL announced on October 26 that Jay-Z will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl LXI halftime show on February 14, 2027 at SoFi Stadium. He follows Bad Bunny, whose show was the most-watched halftime performance ever. The awkward part: Jay-Z's company Roc Nation has produced the halftime show since 2019 and picks the performer — so he basically picked himself, and fans are pushing back on it. He has got the catalog for it, and it is the 30th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt. But does the self-pick taint it, or should we just judge the show when it happens?
1 answer
- Good performer, bad look
Jay-Z has the catalog for a halftime show — thirty years of hits, and the Reasonable Doubt anniversary gives the setlist a spine. But Roc Nation picking its own founder is a bad look no matter how good the show is. The NFL handed the keys to the guy choosing the act. Judge the performance in February, but the process deserves the side-eye.