JAY-Z is indeed the person who makes the final decision on the Super Bowl halftime show performer every year, according to someone who should know — the show’s executive producer.
Following last week’s announcement that Kendrick Lamar would be headlining the 2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans – and not NOLA native Lil Wayne – there has been a ton of vitriol directed at Hov from angry Weezy fans. However, there were varying opinions about whether it was really Jay who people should be pointing the finger at.
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But in a new conversation with Variety published on Monday (September 16), Hollywood executive Jesse Collins has confirmed it is indeed the Roc Nation mogul behind the decision.
Collins, who’s been an EP on the Super Bowl halftime show since 2021, said: “It’s a decision that Jay makes. Since we’ve been on board with that show, he’s made it every year, and it’s been amazing. He’s always picked right!”
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He also showed love to Weezy, adding: “We love Wayne. There’s always Vegas odds on who’s going to get to perform it. But I think we’re going to do an amazing show with Kendrick, and I think everybody’s going to love the halftime show. I know Kendrick is going to work exceptionally hard to deliver an amazing show.”
Nicki Minaj was one of the aforementioned people who went off on JAY-Z for the situation, calling it ego-based and alleging it was all just to slight Drake in his ongoing beef with Kendrick. Many people argued with her that she went off on the wrong person, and in reaction to being affirmed by Collins’ new interview, she replied with a laughing emoji.
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During her initial rant, Minaj said: “I love watching the whole industry play dumb time after time. Go & enjoy your fkng money b4 it’s too late.”
In a direct reference to criticism that JAY and Roc Nation took when they began their partnership with the NFL — that they were undermining the struggle for racial justice in the league that burst into public consciousness with Colin Kaepernick — she wrote: “One n-gga took a knee. The other n-gga took the bag. He gon get you ‘n-ggers’ in line every fkng time.”
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She continued taking shots, saying that Jay was in business with “the Politicians and the police”: “Got everything in the world. Still spiteful & evil,” she wrote. “Disgusting.”
She then directly addressed what she viewed as the root of the issue: that what she called JAY’s “hatred” of her, Drake, and Birdman led to him denying Wayne a showcase he deserved.
“Denying a young black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason but your ego,” she wrote. “Your hatred for BIRDMAN, Drake & Nicki got you punishing Lil Wayne?!?!!!”
Nicki was not the only Hip Hop figure to feel like Wayne was snubbed. Cam’ron felt the same way.
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The Harlem native then pointed the finger at his former Roc-A-Fella boss, who has helped organize the Super Bowl since 2020 as the NFL’s live music entertainment strategist.
“It’s one person who’s stopping this. It’s not really a secret,” he continued, albeit without naming names. “Lil Wayne had a problem with somebody before who’s kinda part of the organization running it. This is payback. Who’s Lil Wayne’s artist? Drake. This is crazy, bro. It’s ridiculous.”
