Rihanna will headline the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show after Taylor Swift reportedly turned it down. Here are 6 times musicians declined the coveted performance spot.

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Pauline VillegasSep 26, 2022, 03:31 IST
Rihanna will headline the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show after Taylor Swift reportedly turned it down. Here are 6 times musicians declined the coveted performance spot.

Jay Z, Pink, and Adele are among the musicians who have refused to perform at the Halftime show.Rich Fury/Getty Images; Karwai Tang/Getty Images; Jim Dyson/Getty Images

  • Though she declined the offer in 2019, Rihanna is now set to headline the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show.
  • On Friday, Taylor Swift reportedly joined the group of musicians who turned down the opportunity.
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Rihanna will headline the 2023 Super Bowl after she previously declined to perform. In a 2019 interview with Vogue, Rihanna confirmed that she turned down the offer.

Rihanna will headline the 2023 Super Bowl after she previously declined to perform. In a 2019 interview with Vogue, Rihanna confirmed that she turned down the offer.
Rihanna at the launch of Fenty Beauty products at Ulta Beauty.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

In 2019 Rihanna told Vogue that she rejected the halftime show due to political differences. The decision was an act of support for former NFL player and activist Colin Kaepernick, who peacefully protested police brutality in 2016 by taking a knee.

"I just couldn't be a sellout. I couldn't be an enabler," the pop star told the outlet. "There's things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way," she continued.

On Sunday the "Work" singer confirmed via Instagram that she will headline the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show sponsored by Apple Music.

On Friday Variety reported that Taylor Swift was in the running to perform at the 2023 Super Bowl. However, People and TMZ confirmed the pop star will not be hitting the stage in February.

On Friday Variety reported that Taylor Swift was in the running to perform at the 2023 Super Bowl. However, People and TMZ confirmed the pop star will not be hitting the stage in February.
Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, 2022.Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Rumors about a potential Swift performance at next year's Super Bowl began Thursday night after the NFL announced Apple Music would be taking over as the show's sponsor. According to Variety, fans speculated that Swift's ties to Apple, and upcoming album drop, meant that the pop singer would be performing.

According to sources who spoke with TMZ, Swift was offered the spot but declined in order to focus on rerecording her first six albums. So far, Swift has rerecorded and released two albums, "Red" and "Fearless," in order to own her masters after a public fallout with her former manager Scooter Braun.

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Though Jay-Z produced the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show starring J-Lo and Shakira, the rapper rejected the offer to perform himself.

Though Jay-Z produced the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show starring J-Lo and Shakira, the rapper rejected the offer to perform himself.
Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, chief visionary officer at The Parent Company.Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images

In a 2020 interview with The New York Times, the rapper revealed that he turned down the opportunity because the NFL wanted control over who he could bring out for the performance.

Jay-Z said he was specifically asked to perform his 2009 hit "Run This Town" with Kanye West and Rihanna.

"I said, 'No, you get me.' That is not how you go about it, telling someone that they're going to do the halftime show contingent on who they bring," he told the outlet. "I said forget it. It was a principle thing."

After Pink's 2018 Super Bowl National Anthem performance, the NFL reportedly offered her the halftime gig for the following year, but she declined.

After Pink's 2018 Super Bowl National Anthem performance, the NFL reportedly offered her the halftime gig for the following year, but she declined.
Pink on the backstage red carpet at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards.Rich Fury/Getty Images

Pink opened up about her decision to turn down the halftime show to Billboard in 2019, citing the potential for backlash amid her personal politics. "Everybody that does it gets so persecuted," she told the outlet.

The singer was also adamant about protesting the NFL's treatment of Kaepernick, stating "I'd probably take a knee and get carried out."

"They should only give it, because of the controversy, to African-American or Latina women for a while," Pink added.

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In 2019, Cardi B told The Associated Press that she declined the offer with "mixed feelings."

In 2019, Cardi B told The Associated Press that she declined the offer with "mixed feelings."
Rapper Cardi B poses on the red carpet at the 2021 American Music Awards.Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Cardi B told the outlet that she felt like she owed it to Kaepernick to say no. "I got to sacrifice a lot of money to perform. But there's a man who sacrificed his job for us, so we got to stand behind him," Cardi B said.

In the interview, the rapper also talked about her husband Offset and his complicated relationship with football in light of his politics.

"He really wants to go to the Super Bowl, but he can't go to the Super Bowl, because he's got to stand for something," she continued.

In 2016, Adele talked about turning down the halftime show during a concert in Los Angeles, Billboard reports.

In 2016, Adele talked about turning down the halftime show during a concert in Los Angeles, Billboard reports.
Adele on the red carpet at the 2022 Brit Awards.Joel C Ryan/AP Images

After rumors swirled in 2016 that Adele would perform at the 2017 Super Bowl, she told a Los Angeles crowd that she had to reject the offer.

"First of all, I'm not doing the Super Bowl. I mean, come on, that show is not about music. And I don't really — I can't dance or anything like that. They were very kind, they did ask me, but I said no," Adele told the audience according to Billboard.

The next day, the NFL and Pepsi released a statement asserting that they never "extended a formal offer to Adele or anyone else."

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According to Big Boi, Outkast was asked to perform at the 2004 Super Bowl but turned it down because André 3000 "didn't want to cut the songs" for time purposes.

According to Big Boi, Outkast was asked to perform at the 2004 Super Bowl but turned it down because André 3000 "didn't want to cut the songs" for time purposes.
André 3000 speaks on a panel at the winter 2020 Television Critics Association press tour.Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images

In 2015, rapper Big Boi opened up about Outkast's invitation to perform at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show on ESPN's "The Dan LeBatard Show." He revealed that it was the other half of the beloved duo that refused to perform.

"[Andre] didn't want to cut the songs, he wanted to do the full songs. It was like, 'Nah, can't do it,'" Big Boi said.

Big Boi tried to convince André 3000 to agree, but he couldn't imagine cutting their hit songs "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move," according to the interview.

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