Rihanna slayed the Super Bowl, but not everyone was impressed.
The Federal Communications Commission, the government agency in charge of regulating radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable communications, received 103 formal complaints about Fox’s Super Bowl LVII broadcast, the vast majority of which were about Rihanna’s halftime performance.
The performance was deemed overly sexual in the majority of the complaints, with some even comparing it to pornography. Others complained about “inappropriate touching and dance moves” that were “offensive and completely inappropriate” for a “family-friendly” show.
the woman who is expecting Rihanna performed a 14-minute medley of her biggest hits, including “Bitch Better Have My Money,” “We Found Love,” “Work,” and “Umbrella,” at State Farm Arena in Glendale, Ariz., but left most of the choreography to her dancers.
“The performance was very sexualized, and there were many instances where Rihanna had her background dancers doing very explicit dances,” a viewer from Lone Tree, Colorado, wrote. “On top of that, four of the songs she chose to perform were about sex. This is supposed to be a family-friendly show, but we wish we had been warned about the explicit content ahead of time so we could get our child out of the room.”
“When I'm with you, all I get is wild thoughts”https://t.co/iRY2u9XTDI@Rihanna@AppleMusic Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show@NFL@NFLonFOX#SBLVII#Rihanna pic.twitter.com/MKvx0x6rHp
— Roc Nation (@RocNation) February 14, 2023
“The sexualization, genital grabbing, sniffing of her fingers, man pulling off his jacket and then girating [sic]all while singing lyrics far too inappropriate for a family sports event,” one Janesville, Calif., viewer added. If this is how you’re going to disrespect our country, I’m not going to watch it again next year.”
Another California viewer compared Rihanna’s performance to Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ controversial performance of “Unholy” at the Grammys. “I don’t care what someone worships, but children should not be exposed to pornography, and as an adult, I don’t want to see it… Where has decency gone? “How about respect for others and for oneself?”
One commenter said Rihanna was “glorifying being a stripper,” and a viewer in Utah was so disgusted that they turned off the television. “This year’s halftime show was so deplorable that I had to turn off the TV due to the pornographic content.”
The 103 complaints paled in comparison to the 540,000 complaints received during Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s performance in 2004, which resulted in a fine for CBS.
Despite the complaints, 118.7 million people tuned in to watch Rihanna’s performance, which was the second most-watched halftime show of all time.
Rihanna will return to television next month to perform “Lift Me Up,” her Oscar-nominated song from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, at the 95th Academy Awards on March 12.
