Rihanna — business mogul, new mom, and occasional pop star — to headline 2023 Super Bowl halftime show (original) (raw)
Though fans are still waiting for R9, they can at least find some solace in knowing their queen will shut the halftime show all the way down.
Published on September 25, 2022 05:01PM EDT
Fun fact: Noted fashion mogul Rihanna also makes music. A fact she is keen to remind you of when she brings her bottomless catalog of hits to the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show.
Shortly before the NFL posted a statement announcing the Bajan Sensation, the business mogul had seemingly confirmed the news on her Instagram, posting a simple image of her hand holding a football. You know you're a global icon when you can say so much with literally so little.
Roc Nation, which produced the last appropriately epic halftime show, posted the same image, adding a "Let's go," in the caption, tagging the NFL and Apple Music, and adding the hashtag "#SBLVII."
Rihanna's reps did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.
Rather famously, Rihanna turned down the opportunity to headline the 2019 Super Bowl halftime show, citing her support of Colin Kaepernick and the NFL's repeated silencing of protests against police brutality.
Rihanna will be performing at the Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show. The pop icon had previously turned down the NFL's offer to perform in 2019. Han Myung-Gu/WireImage
"I couldn't dare do that. For what?" Rihanna told Vogue. "Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn't be a sellout. I couldn't be an enabler. 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."
In 2019 the NFL entered into a partnership with Jay-Z and his Roc Nation group to "enhance the NFL's live game experiences and to amplify the league's social justice efforts." Three years later, that partnership is apparently working.
Meanwhile, with Apple Music also in on the festivities, might this mean that RiRi will also be dropping some new music, or is that just asking for too much at this point? You know what, it is. She's given us enough. Let's just all be thankful for Rihanna returning to the live stage and hold our collective breaths in anticipation of the beat-drop in "We Found Love."
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