Charlamagne Tha God didn’t hold back on the latest episode of the Brilliant Idiots podcast. After Kendrick Lamar’s announcement of his headlining slot in New Orleans next year, rumors started swirling about Drake being offered the Super Bowl halftime show. Charlamagne wasn’t buying it.
“And by the way, I hope Drake isn’t doing corny stuff like leaking that he got offered the Super Bowl a bunch of times and turned it down,” Charlamagne began. “Nobody believes that. I hope Drake isn’t going around saying that. Because why wouldn’t you do the Super Bowl? Of course you would.”
Charlamagne argued that if Drake wrote lyrics about the Super Bowl’s magnitude, he certainly understands its importance. Therefore, it’s unlikely he would turn down the opportunity. He added, “I don’t believe that. Let’s just say, hypothetically, he did get offered. That right there dispels all of the Internet rumors about Jay-Z hating on Drake, then. Stupid motherf***ers. ‘Cause everybody was saying, ‘Jay-Z hates Drake, Jay-Z hates Drake.’ So if he offered him the Super Bowl four years in a row and he turned it down, is that hate?”
Charlamagne then continued, “So clearly, Jay-Z’s not hating on nobody. He’s helped Wayne, he’s ‘offered’ Drake the Super Bowl, which I don’t even believe. I don’t believe that happened. But let’s just say hypothetically that he did. [He either offered you the Super Bowl] or he’s hating. He liked the post about Cam saying, ‘I guess Jay was hating.’ He didn’t say Jay, he just said one person is hating, he never said who it was. I saw [Drake] like the post. So if you liked the post and then you turn around and say you’ve been invited to do the Super Bowl and you turned it down? Like, eh.”
Charlamagne pointed out that the only rappers who performed at the Super Bowl before Jay-Z took over were part of ensembles, with Nelly being the only notable exception. He concluded, “Unless he was invited before [Jay-Z became the curator] of the halftime show, but I don’t know. I don’t believe that. Let’s be clear. There was no rap at the Super Bowl halftime shows before Jay-Z. You had very, very, very safe rap artists who hit that stage as part of ensembles. The only one I can remember is Nelly. That’s literally the only one I can remember.”
In the end, Charlamagne Tha God dismissed the rumors about Drake turning down the Super Bowl halftime show as unlikely and unfounded. According to Charlamagne, the story just doesn’t add up, and he doesn’t believe it happened.
