On Super Bowl Sunday, Kendrick Lamar took on fascism, Kanye and Donald Trump

By Mira Fox
February 10, 2025

The Super Bowl, in which the Eagles routed the Chiefs 40-22, was more than just a showdown between a franchise with two wins under its belt — and the support of the president — and a scrappy underdog from Philadelphia. It was a bellwether for the state of America and its approach to looming facism in our society writ large. The game itself, the ads, the halftime show and the attendees all contained clues, and commentary, on the battles being fought in U.S. culture and politics.

The showdown between the teams, and what they represented, was the simplest political symbol on the field Sunday night. The real back and forth was not in the passes and tackles, but in the contrast between the halftime show and the ads — particularly one specific commercial.

Kanye West — taking a brief break from tweeting out a long series of false conspiracies about Jewish control and power over the past few days, bought an ad.

In the short clip, which only played in some local markets, Ye grins up into a blurry cellphone camera he’s holding while lying in a dentist’s chair. “I spent all the money for the commercial on these new teeth,” he says. “I had to shoot it on the iPhone so, um, um, um — go to Yeezy.com.”

The only item for sale on the site is a white shirt emblazoned with a black swastika, with the item name “HH-1,” likely a reference to “Heil Hitler.”

Ye’s antisemitism online and in his ad served as a striking background for Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show, where he performed his contentious hit “Not Like Us,” which accuses fellow artist Drake of sleeping with underaged women and calls him a colonizer. (Drake has sued Lamar, accusing the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper of antisemitism for the latter accusation; Drake’s mother is Jewish.)

But Lamar’s set was not just a takedown of Drake — though it was certainly that. It also took a bold stance on race and authoritarianism in the U.S. Dancers, all Black men and women dressed in red, white and blue, formed an American flag; meanwhile, Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam cautioned Lamar against being “too ghetto,” adding “don’t mess this up.”

Kendrick Lamar’s Full Super Bowl Halftime Show performance #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/OxZED0YXDn

– Popculture (@notgwendalupe) February 10, 2025

Lamar’s act was, of course, a statement on diversity and race in America, performed in the face of a president who has revoked DEI and stoked divisions. But as his red, white and blue dancers marched up the length of the stage, some also saw a commentary on fascism in their near goose-walking step. Bobbing arms thrust straight out in a near “Sieg Heil” at a different point in the show also drew notice.

Given the general meta nature of the performance, its commentary on America’s history of ignoring its legacy of oppression — as represented by Uncle Sam as a one-man Greek chorus reminding Lamar not to be too edgy — it seems clear that any references to Nazism were not endorsements but criticisms of America’s increasing affinity for the authoritarianism of the Third Reich.

The dancers only broke their lockstep as Lamar transitioned to his diss track, which he had teased all night even as Uncle Sam warned him not to sing it; to take back power, Lamar seems to say, we have to disobey the authorities.

To drive home the message against imperialism, a dancer — though apparently unsanctioned by the production — unfurled a flag representing Sudan and Gaza. He managed to wave it for almost two minutes, evading a member of event security, before being tackled.

“The revolution about to be televised,” rapped Lamar. “You picked the right time but the wrong guy.”