Lil Wayne has broken his silence on not being invited to play the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show in his hometown, a week after the NFL announced that Los Angeles native Kendrick Lamar will do the honors. In an Instagram post on Friday (September 13), a serious man explained why he took a minute to talk about the detention that “broke” him, while expressing gratitude for friends and peers who expressed support and questioned why Tunechi passed .
“First of all, I want to say sorry for the delay. I had to get enough strength to do that without breaking,” said a dark, visibly frustrated Wayne. “I will say thank you to every voice, every opinion, all the care, all the love and support out there. Your words became hugs and held me up when I tried to come back.”
Wayne, sitting on a sofa and dressed in a red, white and blue jacket and red shorts, became extremely vulnerable about how the news hit him. “That hurt. It hurt a lot. You know what I'm talking about. It hurt a lot,” he said nonstop. “I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a disappointment. And because I automatically mentally put myself in that position as someone 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, so I hurt. It hurt a lot.”
Pain and vulnerability clearly etched on his face, Weezy bounced from heartbreak to gratitude for all the people who stuck by him after the news broke. “But you're all amazing. You made me feel like I don't have that chance and when I felt like I did, you reminded me that I'm not without you… and that's an amazing reality,” added the 41-year-old MC who has been repping his hometown for three decades.
“Well, like I said, it broke me and I'm just trying to put myself back together,” he continued. “But my God, you all helped me. Thanks to all my peers, my friends, my family, my friends on sports TV and everyone who repeats me. I really appreciate that, I really do. I feel like I let you all down by not having this opportunity, but I'm working on myself and working. So thank you.”
Back in February, sports fan Wayne openly admitted to wanting halftime during what's traditionally the most-watched TV event of the year. “I'm not going to lie to you, I haven't gotten a call,” he told YG's 4 Hunnid podcast. “But we're all praying, keeping our fingers crossed. I work hard. I'm going to make sure this next album and everything I do is killer, so I'm going to make it really hard for them… I just want to make it hard for them not to highlight the boy.”
Since the news broke about K-Dot, several fellow rappers have come to Wayne's defense regarding what they consider to be an abomination of the MC, whose name is synonymous with the Crescent City. Among the supporters was Lamar's arch-rival Drake, who posted a series of photos of his mentor on Instagram on Tuesday, seemingly lining up behind Weezy without offering any context for his post. Other members of the Young Money/Cash Money family, like Nicki Minaj and Birdman, also talked about the slight.
“To deny a young black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason than your ego. Your hate for BIRDMAN, Drake and Nicki made you punish Lil Wayne??!!! LIL WAYNE!!!!!!!!!! THE DOG?!!!!!!!!!!! Nola what's good,” Minaj tweeted. New Orleans native and No Limit Records boss Master P also spoke out for Wayne, as did Cam'ron and Mase, with Cam calling the move “devastating.”
After a dry run sharing the stage with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent during the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show in Los Angeles, Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winner Lamar will perform the Super Bowl LIX honors at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on February 9, 2025. At press time, no additional guests had been announced for next year's halftime show, and Lamar had not responded to the backlash over Lil Wayne's complaints.
Check out Wayne's video below.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/lil-wayne-super-bowl-halftime-snub-broke-him-hurt-kendrick-lamar-1235774697/