The Josh Innes Show - The Culture Owns Halftime Shows

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

I don't care who plays halftime at the Super Bowl. It's really not impacting my life. But, I see people bitching about a lack of rock acts or a lack of country acts. Well, I'll tell you this...you won't be seeing rock or country acts any time soon. Why? Because the culture owns halftime and the culture owns social media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, friends, what's going on? Good to have you guys along here. It's about 10 o'clock in the morning on Tuesday. And hello, salutations, hope all is well. A lot of stuff going on. Let me start here, though. We're talking about Super Bowl, obviously, game stuff, all that we've talked about.

Halftime thing is something I continue to find interesting because, as is usually the case, everything is divided by race on the internet, right? Essentially, there ain't a black person on the planet that thinks the Kendrick Lamar performance sucked. And even if they do think it sucked, if they see that a white person said they thought it sucked, then they have to rush to the defense of Kendrick Lamar to let you know that that white person is probably racist and just doesn't get it. There are a lot of layers here. First of all, apparently there was a bunch of hidden meaning in the Kendrick Lamar performance. Like you got to go to the urban radio station,

Instagrams and shit, but there's like full on breakdowns of what everything meant symbolically in this Kendrick Lamar performance. Fun fact, if you have to explain this, if it's something that the internet has to explain to the vast majority of people, it really wasn't that good. I don't need your fucking hidden meanings and everything else in your performance, bro. Like, I get it. I think Kendrick Lamar is a talented dude. I think he's got some solid bangers. I'm not here at the Super Bowl for your hidden meaning,

need to have big boys neighborhood explain everything to me in a post, right? Just do something fun. Do something entertaining. Do something interesting. Part of the problem is Kendrick's music isn't set up for that, right? It's just not the kind of music that you have for that type of setting. As I've said, I don't believe Kendrick Lamar musically is mainstream enough for that stage. And I said that, and of course you get people coming at me on Twitter. Oh, you don't think Kendrick Lamar is mainstream? You're stupid. No, he's obviously a

big deal. He's had some songs that have crossed over to the pop charts. Like he is a big deal. I do not believe his music crosses over to the point that he's, you know, the type of dude that should be headlining the Superbowl. I'm not here to watch a rap battle or dish tracks on the Superbowl. Like, like the whole thing with Drake, the culture knows that the people on social media know it. The problem is the people who are watching the Superbowl are not just people who are in the culture and on social media know it. The problem is the people who are watching the Super Bowl are not just people who are in the culture and on social media and give a shit about rap beef in 2025. If 126 million people are watching the Super Bowl, I'm going to guess that the vast, vast majority of those people may not even know who Kendrick Lamar is or care. And they certainly

don't give a fuck about a rap beef between he and Drake they don't give a fuck and guess what it doesn't make them bad people it doesn't make them uncultured it doesn't make them fuddy duddies it doesn't make them racists or bigots they just don't give a fuck about rap beef in 2025 because you know what rap beef is in 2025 exactly what we saw just a dude talking shit about another dude and his lyrics and then nothing's gonna come of it you want to give me real rap beef let's go to like the late 80s early 90s when motherfuckers might get shot that's legit right like there's real stakes there if you have a rap beef suge knight may throw your ass over a fucking 20th store fucking balcony right like that's a real rap beef that's real issues that's some hardcore

shit not some dude out here in fucking bell bottoms on the super bowl calling drake a pedophile while uh serena williams who by the way married to a fucking white dude is out here crip walking and shit like come on come on, bro. That ain't real shit. And of course the internet's all about it. And like, Oh my God, I can't believe Kendrick did that.

Most of the world does not give a fuck. No one cares. It's 2025. Rap beef is lame. No one cares. If there's a chance that Drake or Kendrick Lamar could shoot one another, then maybe we got some serious stakes, right? It's like old school wrestling. If there's like legit stakes that you feel like something could really happen, you'll kind of engage in it. But if it's like a loser

leaves town match or a retirement match, nobody gave a shit because you knew that Ric Flair wasn't going to retire. You knew that Hulk Hogan wasn't going to retire if he lost a match, or you know the loser wasn't going to leave town, so it didn't feel real. There's nothing real about this. Oh no, Drake may sue Kendrick Lamar. Oh no, can you believe that Kendrick did the line? Oh my God.

It's 2025, dude. Suge Knight ain't throwing a dude off a 20th story balcony and somebody ain't getting plugged in the streets of fucking Vegas. This is like that wannabe shit, just like the wannabe civil rights movements that we have now where everybody wants to act like they're in fucking Selma, when in reality they're just a bunch of dipshits on the fucking internet

bitching because they got nothing else to do. That's where we are. Everybody wants to think that they're in 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 years ago. We're not. people live pretty charmed lives where they can sit on the internet and bitch and call people racist or the racist can sit around and call the other group this that's where we are in 2025 stop trying to make believe like we're in 1960 and we're in the heart of the civil rights movement you all leave pretty charmed lives and if you don't it's probably your own fucking fault that you don't.

All that said, let me play a couple commercials here, and we will continue. All right, if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you got to check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition, including prize picks. It's a very simple concept. Hit all your picks and score higher minimum payouts on Pick 6, plus even more cash if you outscore the competition. Pick 6 is

available in most states, including Missouri, California, Texas, Georgia, and more. And I absolutely love it. Look, every night we're going to be having playoff basketball. Every night. So when you're sitting around and you might not have interest in a particular game, let's say you're a fan of a particular team, they're not playing that night, here's how you make it a little bit more fun for the other games. Build a little lineup there with pick six. It's really great. Me and my wife do it all the time. So make sure you do it. And new players get 50 in pick six credits instantly on just a $5 entry. Download the DraftKings pick six app now and use code Ennis. That's my name. I-N-N-E-S for new customers to play. $5, get 50 in Pick 6 credits. Better payouts, bigger wins, only with Pick 6 from DraftKings.

The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org in Connecticut. Must be 18+. Age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction pick six not available everywhere including new york and ontario void where prohibited

one per new customer bonus award it is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days limited time offer see terms at pick six dotdraftkings.com slash promos. Like, basically, here's where we are, right? As far as Super Bowl halftime shows go. Some guy came at me on Twitter the other day because I said that we are not going to see white performers from traditionally white genres like rock and country. And this person was like, oh, here's a list of all the white performers and rock bands. Yes. Thank you for telling me that 15 years ago, the who played

the Superbowl and that Tom Petty played the Superbowl and the Rolling Stones played the Superbowl. One, a lot of those are still alive. Tom Petty's not, but the who could still play the Rolling Stones are phenomenal. And I'll tell you this, and I'm not saying this as like angry rock and roll white guy, because like, look, I don't give a shit. So, and I think that's part of the issue you run into on the internet is people see you say things like, well, you know, we're not going to see white performers. And they think that you give a shit if white people perform or not. I don't. It is an observation. And it is a statement of reality that those type of acts are not going to play one because many of the biggest rock acts that are still alive have done it before Paul

McCartney who was in the stadium Paul McCartney's done it before Bruce Springsteen has done it before the who done it before the stones but I'll tell you this Mick Jagger at 81 would have put on a better performance at the Super Bowl than Kendrick Lamar would. That's reality of it. Dude's 81 years old. He's plowing some chick that's in her 30s. He's high energy. He's dancing around.

He's jumping around. And they fucking concert. I haven't seen them live. I know they're touring right now or they had been. Mick is 81 and Mick would crush performance wise. Mick and Keith would destroy most of the artists that you could put out there, white, black, or whatever. It doesn't matter.

They would eviscerate them because they're real performers and real musicians. But they've already played the Super Bowl, so you're not going to see acts like that. The problem we're running into as far as a Super Bowl halftime show goes is you're kind of out of big time acts. So what you end up with is these kind of middling type of acts. Like when Katy Perry played it a couple of years ago, Katy Perry was already on her way down. Katy Perry hasn't been putting out hits since like 2013. So I think she performed when I was in Philadelphia because I remember it was a big thing like the left shark, right shark thing.

And Tony was talking about it was a big deal. So that was probably 2015. So probably the Super Bowl game that was played in February of 2015 was probably that one. So that's 10 years ago. At that point, Katy Perry was still a big deal, but she was on her way down and nobody was buying her music. Now nobody is. They had Madonna, I think, in like 2009 or 11 or something like that Madonna hadn't been putting out hits for 15 years at that point so my point in all of this when I

tweeted the other day that white artists from traditionally white genres are not going to be playing this that's reality because either they've played it before they are dead or there just aren't artists that are a big enough deal. There ain't no way in fucking hell they're putting country dudes up there. Like I mentioned Luke Combs. Luke Combs is massive. That dude actually fills up baseball and football stadiums on his own. There ain't no way they're putting a country halftime show on there and then dealing with the fucking culture on the internet because they don't want to deal with the culture on the internet. Morgan Wallen could fill up a Super Bowl stadium probably three times in a weekend he's almost like a Taylor Swift level in that regard he could certainly fill up a football stadium once he is a big fucking deal

I think his music's for the most part dreadful and I have no interest in it but Morgan Wallen could but there ain't no way Morgan Wallen like somebody mentioned that to me on my comments said what about Morgan Wallen well there ain't no way in 2025 that, like somebody mentioned that to me on my comments, said, what about Morgan Wallen? Well, there ain't no way in 2025 that they're going to take a dude who said the N-word, whether it be calling someone that or not, which it wasn't, but they certainly aren't going to take Morgan Wallen and put his ass up on stage and have to deal with the angry culture on social media saying that the league is racist. They took end racism out of the end zones, and now they got Morgan Wallen up there, the dude that said the N-word. Holy shit, the league is racist. They took end racism out of the end zones. And now they got

Morgan Wallen up there, the dude that said the N word, holy shit, the league is racist. What are we doing here? Hashtag Superbowl. So white hashtag racism. Like you think they're going to fuck with that? Let me tell you about these corporations like the NFL and everybody else. Here's the reality. They want to deal with the least amount of blowback and resistance as possible right so if you're the NFL and this is 2025 and people that bitch on the internet have more power than they've ever had back when you had to like really put in effort to have your bitches heard your gripes heard you know you'd have to you know write a letter or call someone well that's not that way anymore you just go to social media and you get a gang of people together to say that everything's terrible

or that everything is racist and they have a big voice now that's not to say that it's only the culture that does that you can find a thousand white dudes spearheaded by clay travis that believe that white guys are oppressed now both sides do this shit and then your hispanic dudes just sit around don't give a fuck they're're like, whatever, no one cares about us, SA. But whatever. Asian dudes are like, really, no one gives a fuck about us. So what do we do? The Native Americans are like, you white motherfuckers only care about us whenever a team needs to change its name.

But other than that, you surely don't give a fuck. We live in a black versus white society. That is where we are. Those are the only two groups of people in this country that care from a media standpoint or that matter from a media standpoint, from a social media standpoint. We ignore everybody else. And the black voice, when it comes to complaints, has the biggest sword, right? So a lot of these corporations in big leagues that are run by white dudes, the last thing they want to do is anger black Twitter, right? So what's the fastest way they could anger black Twitter? Well, you put on a super white halftime show with like

a country singer. Let me tell you, Luke Combs up on stage would crush. The problem is, you know, who doesn't like Luke Combs or probably just, I wouldn't even say doesn't like, doesn't give a fuck about Luke Combs, the culture. So the culture would run to the internet and go, last year we had Kendrick Lamar and now hashtag Super Bowl so white with this country shit. Man, Beyonce's country shit's better than this. Man, why can't we get some representation on this halftime show? Hashtag racist Super Bowl, right? And the league doesn't want to deal with that shit. The league is going to take the path of least resistance like most corporations will. The last thing they want to do is be called racist. That is the greatest fear these corporations have. They don't want to

do anything real. They are in the business of appeasement. A million old white dudes could bitch that they don't understand anything from Kendrick Lamar and they don't get rap and then a bunch of other people will call them racist but the NFL can live with a bunch of white dudes bitching about the halftime show the NFL can deal with rock and roll people bitching that you don't see rock and roll acts on the Super Bowl anymore because at the end of the day those white dudes are still going to watch and at the the end of the day, complaining white dudes don't have any power. You want some reality? Here's a double dose of reality for you. Angry white dudes possess no power.

You're yelling at a cloud when you are an angry white dude. You are an afterthought to these people. You are considered lame. You're considered tired. You're considered old. Your old man yells at cloud when you're a white dude that's angry. No one gives a fuck. They scoff at you. Most of the time, they probably just delete your shit without reading it. They don't care, but they are petrified of angry black Twitter that

frightens the shit out of them. The last thing these corporations want is a bunch of angry black people over you ignoring, uh, you know, putting black people in a Super Bowl performance, for instance, so they are going to pay more attention to you. The league doesn't want to have to deal with it. The league has bigger issues. The league cares more about other shit and more important shit. At the end of all this, the Super Bowl halftime show, while a big deal and a money generator, is not something they feel like having a fight with people over. So if the option is, put in someone like Kendrick Lamar, who in my opinion does not have the mass appeal of even some other urban artists, real talk, we're in a shitty era for urban crossover artists. We're in a shitty

era. It's not the early 2000s when people were pumping out fun, up-tempo music that just crushed the top 40 charts. This era of urban hip hop, R&B music is boring and slow and uninteresting and no fun at all. No offense to Kendrick. Some of those jams are great. They're just not great radio jams in my opinion. This isn't like Nelly or Snoop or Ludacris when you could turn on the fucking radio on a top 40 station and you know, it's move bitch, get out the way or something fun or nelly like air force ones or something that's like you know or or a hot in here something fun and frivolous and great everything's got to be powerful everything's got to be meaning everything's

got to be fucking boring and that's the era we're in for urban music i say that as someone who digs all that shit from the early 2000s talking a little way Lil Wayne, 2008, 2009. The Carter III, one of the biggest albums ever. Seemingly every track from that was on fucking Top 40 radio. You turn on and you hear Mrs. Officer. You turn on, you got got money, and you know it. Take it out your pocket and show it, then throw it like this away, that away.

Like that shit crushed, lollipop,op that type of shit it doesn't happen anymore because most urban hip-hop r&b shit is boring and it doesn't cross over and it doesn't have staying power like those tracks did it's not like when you'd listen to fucking i mean look the usher album was enormous confessions what a fucking album every song was a banger and all of them were all over radio that isn't happening anymore and some of your biggest pop stars are like new to the scene so they're probably not going to play the super bowl taylor ain't going to play the fucking super bowl because taylor doesn't have to play the super bowl you keep that ace in the hole until you need something to jump start you which she doesn't so you look at where we are, you're going to be hard pressed to find interesting acts

like that. But the problem is in this era we're in, the society we're in, there is no benefit to just putting on a country act. There's no benefit to putting on a rock act when I acknowledge that most of your heritage rock acts are either old or dead. Dude, Def Leppard could crush, ACDC could crush, but do you think the NFL wants to deal with black Twitter having no clue who these people are, calling them old, calling them dated, calling the Super Bowl racist? Would they rather do that or would they rather have SZA play

the halftime show? You know what I'm saying? They don't want to deal with it. It's easier to just accept that we don't give a shit about what white people find interesting. White people's opinion is irrelevant. We're petrified of the culture online, so we just appease them. These corporations are in the business of appeasement. That's what it is. That's their way of giving an angry group of people something that doesn't matter, so they don't have to give them shit that actually matters. At the end of the day, does it really matter who's playing the Super Bowl halftime show? No, it doesn't. But when you give this angry group this gift and say, well, see, look at that,

here's Kendrick Lamar, it pacifies them. That's the thing. That's the thing that these white people that run these corporations, this is what they're good at. They're good if giving you something that means very little to them seemingly means a lot to you that means nothing in the grand scheme of things. At the end of the day, those people bitching still have a lot of other shit to bitch about, but at least you've appeased them by putting Kendrick Lamar on the halftime show and not Morgan Wallen. If you put Morgan Wallen out there, that'd be a really good show probably. You put Blake Shelton, Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs be a really good show probably you put Blake Shelton Morgan Wallen Luke Combs Luke Bryan those would be fun shows those are fun dudes they ain't ever playing fucking halftime it ain't gonna happen because they're never going to do that you could put

dude Nickelback would destroy that they'd be amazing ain't no way that's ever gonna happen so they'd rather stick with these mid hip-hop and acts. I'm not saying that Kendrick in the rap game, he is far more than mid. He's a really good guy, but like they're going to keep finding mid acts to throw on there because they're certainly not going to throw in 70 year old dudes from the who, and they're certainly not going to throw on guys that, you know, Nickelback sold more albums than anybody in the two thousands, but their asses ain't going to be up on the stage because they don't want to

deal with that. So you deal with these mid-acts like this. It's appeasement. That's what you have to deal with. And this isn't me talking from a standpoint of I hate rap, I like whatever. It is reality. They are petrified of the culture on Twitter. And they'd rather just scoff it off and say,

I don't feel like dealing with this today. And that's what they've done with this. But whatever, man. Dude, if you want to keep going, I honest to God, if you're going to look at the way the Super Bowl halftime show looks now, instead of forcing these kind of mid-acts that don't have mass appeal, I just throw somebody like the fucking Commodores out there. Put Lionel Richie, who's had a resurgence because he's on American Idol, put Lionel Richie out there and have him do a little

dancing on the ceiling, and I think you could kind of have a best of both worlds thing. You go, well, the culture can't bitch because it's Lionel Richie, old school black artist, and a bunch of white people don't have to be offended because they know Lionel Richie, and then boom, maybe it's a victory. Put Lionel Richie in Earth, Wind, and Fire and Kool and the Gang.

Give me that halftime show. Kool and the Gang gets out there and does a little celebration, little ladies night. Then you get, you know, after the love is gone, you get a little Earth, Wind and Fire out there. And then boom, you flip it over to Lionel Richie who does a little dancing on the ceiling, a little hello. Maybe he does some of the Commodore shit. Maybe he gets up there and does Still. Probably not because it's too fucking slow, but fuck, that's a jam. I do love you, bloom, bloom, bloom, bloom, bloom. Still. Give me some of that. That'd be quality shit, and it'd be fine, but they're never going to do anything like that. You're going to get hip hop or pop forced down your throat so the culture doesn't bitch. Again, Luke Combs fills up football

stadiums. That dude ain't ever going to play halftime. Probably won't even be offered halftime. Maybe I'll be wrong, but they're not going to do that because they don't want to piss the culture off. It's very simple. It's very easy. It's pick your battles. As my dad's always told me, as managers have told me, people who I consultant have told me, and this is something I'm finally learning, pick your battles. The NFL has a ton of battles every year. They just don't want to deal with angry culture on Twitter, bitching about white dudes playing the Super Bowl halftime show. So they just say, here you go. We'll live with angry white dudes. We don't want to deal with the culture being angry on Twitter. It's really that simple. All right. Anyway, more to come.