1d ago

Super Bowl fans whine over Kendrick Lamar's halftime show - 'DEI only goes one direction'

www.irishstar.com Super Bowl fans whine over Kendrick Lamar's halftime show and 'DEI'

X users are calling out Kendrick Lamar's halftime show performance for not having one white performer on stage with some saying it's the worst halftime show they've ever seen.

Lamar filled the stage with performers, but none of them seemed to be white. While most may not even have noticed, some particularly upset users took to X to express their frustration.

"There's no diversity in the half time show. DEI only goes one direction and this horrible halftime show perfectly represents why DEI needs to die," a user wrote.

News @lemmy.world

GrammarPolice @sh.itjust.works

2d ago

Super Bowl fans whine over Kendrick Lamar's halftime show and 'DEI'

www.irishstar.com /news/us-news/kendrick-lamar-called-out-no-34646077

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60 comments

Was never an issue when ya'll were pouring acid to get us out of the pool. Or when we couldn't go to "white only" businesses. Or schools.
A white performer can have an entire stage of nothing but white dancers and they wouldn't say boo, but the black performer does the same, suddenly they see it as unfair. 🙄
- Was never an issue when ya'll were pouring acid to get us out of the pool
  Hadn't heard about this one
  https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/motel-manager-pouring-acid-water-black-people-swam-pool-1964/
  The motel manager, Jimmy Brock, in an effort to break up the party, poured a bottle of muriatic acid into the pool, hoping the swimmers would become scared and leave.
  One swimmer, who knew that the ratio of acid to pool water was so great that the acid was no longer a threat, drank some of the pool water to calm the other swimmers’ fears.
  It did not scare the swimmers, though it seems like it was effective in making the protesters at least nervous — the amount of acid to the amount of water being so small it was mostly safe—and so a cop jumped in to arrest people.
  Ah that's why. Still a dick move, but definitely not the horror show it is intended to sound like, and not as often as it's intended to sound, being "once" and all.
  An off-duty policeman, Officer Henry Billitz, jumped in—except for his shoes still fully clothed—in an attempt at dragging them out himself; he beat them up as well.
  Yeah that's about what I'd expect.
  In 2007, aged 85, Jimmy Brock died at his St. Augustine home.
  Well, good news, looks like everyone who threw acid into pools to scare black people 61yr ago is dead! At least there's that. That whole "policeman" thing otoh...

Why are we still printing articles that quote nothing but tweets as if it’s real reporting on real human opinions instead of a psyop bot farm?
- In the event you didn't know what to think, here's a large group of possibly real people who have maybe computer-generated opinions, that you can actually agree with, right now!
  Look at how many there are, truly this is an accurate representation of your countrymen, and you... disagree with them? What's it like being on the outside, looking in, nerd?
  Thankfully, media literacy is at an all time low. So we can just keep pumping out these open-source articles that masquerade as journalism. Now your relatives and coworkers can sound intelligent and well-informed when they come to talk, even though they may have only read the headline!
- For real. We need to ban these articles based on opinions from social media. They're pretty much never representative of a real person's opinion, and they're mostly impossible to verify if they've been said by a person.
  
  We WOULD ban them, but the person in charge of banning things is rich, and the media is owned by the rich, so we're just gonna go ahead and keep doing this.

They are using DEI with a hard "R"
- Don’t forget the companion piece!

I found this somewhere and thought it was a pretty good explanation for all the symbolism in his performance.
And even tho I'm not super familiar with his music, I do respect him and an artist and really enjoyed the show.
Edit: and Serena crip-walking on Drake getting called a pedophile on international TV was just the icing on the cake for me.

Wouldn't putting even one white performer in the show count as.... "Forced inclusion"?
- No one ever accused these people of being smart.
  
  Nah, I don't think it's about being smart or not. For them it was never about "logic" or "congruence", they are just hopelessly racist.

I watched it and thought Kendrick Lamar is awesome! Samuel L Jackson is awesome! Serena Williams is awesome! DJ Mustard is awesome!
I never thought oh they're all black...
- Oh I did. I just sat there with my hands tented together saying good...gooood over and over
  Kendrick knew exactly what he was doing by having everyone be non-white. I was all for it.
  
  It's a stupid take to complain about no white people, but to claim that it's intentional and that's a good thing, is even more stupid.
  
  I spent the entire SB waiting for the halftime show for that very reason. I caught some of it, my environment was too noisy for some of it. But when I heard his opening line about the revolution being televised I knew it was going to be what I was hoping for.
- I just found out DJ Mustard’s first name is Dijon
  
  DJ Mustard will Poupon all the haters.

Tell them it was all based on merit and watch their heads explode

Affirmative Action. Critical Race Theory. DEI. We fought a Civil War over this. People got lynched. There were protests. People got beaten, bitten by dogs and hosed with water over this. And for what? So it can be taken away with the stroke of a pen. It’s a shame.
- MLK called it. The biggest threat was the white moderate.
- It's very depressing how thin the veneer of progress has been proven to be. After all you mentioned.

I forget the part where the whites were forced to watch it. When did that part happen ?
Because listening to and reporting on the whites whining is not required, either.
- Does race even matter here?

I noticed. I intentionally checked. And when I saw there were no white people I chuckled to myself because I know this would make piss the racists the fuck off.

X users are taking to the platform to complain amid the [Super Bowl].
Well that’s your problem, you got nazis in your platform.
- Got a little platform in all your Nazis*

"DEI only goes one direction" which means what exists when there is no DEI?
Take your time.

I can't fathom the logic but maybe that's because I'm not racist. The best thing here would be if people would just enjoy shit and shut the fuck up. I will straight up admit I didn't understand a fuckin word Lamar said on stage, but I also understand that my taste in music doesn't include whatever type of rap it is that he performs. But I cannot fathom sitting there watching that and the only thought on my mind is 'holy SHIT there's not a single white person on the stage ?!?!?!!' Just...wat.
- will straight up admit I didn’t understand a fuckin word Lamar said on stage
  Closed Captions are your friend. KL writes excellent lyrics that are relevant to who he is and where he comes from.
  
  Honestly didn't think of this and I usually have subtitles on. Appreciate it!
- Audio quality was terrible, i saw a clip online later that was much clearer on audio
- If you’ve tuned out the vocals because you can’t understand it, the music because you don’t like it, and have to sit there for 15 minutes with it on because you don’t want to miss the actual game, then that kind of thinking happens. Not saying it’s right. I’ll be honest, it was odd, but IDGAF about the half time show. So yes, people are looking for the opportunity to point this type of thing out.

wtf is wrong with people. You watch a show and all you can think of if the race of the ppl dancing? Stop this obsession ppl!

That show was HORRIBLE! There was no DIVERSITY!
-Americans making DIVERSITY, EQUALITY, INCLUSION illegal!

Oh, cry me a river.
- I'm sure he's banned from ever doing another Superbowl

I thought we were going to be a color blind society based on merit?

I didn't enjoy the entire superbowl. Not a single commercial was memorable, or with me right now. The game was sad and one sided, while the commentators just kept trying to suck off KC.
And as far as the halftime show, I didn't like it. Now, as far as the music goes, I never like the music. But usually the music at least brings with it some amazing visuals. It usually feels like the biggest performance of the year.
Instead, they had one move. Yes, the dancing in colors to eventually form a flag that waves IS pretty cool.....but you got a 20 minute performance. That visual is a minute at most. What else ya got? Oh, just a lot of dancers marching down the street.....still forming a flag. Oh, the majority of your show is the flag? Yeah, it was kinda cool the first time....but that CANNOT be your only move. I forget who was billed as the official act, but there was one that broke down into a whole bunch of singers. You had jay z and eminem, and mary j blige and snoop dogg, and it just kept changing styles. That one was kinda cool.
I think that's what I want in superbowl halftime shows. Larger than life productions where you get lost in the theatrical production of all, and it becomes an ensamble cast of artists and styles.
I want one where TLC leads into Lady Gaga, leads into Destinys Child, leads into Beyonce, capped off by GWAR.
Imagine that halftime show.
- "Not a single commercial was memorable "
  The fact that commercials are seen as anything else than annoying is already strange to me. But reading that it really is seen as an entertaining part of the Super Bowl takes it to a whole other level.
  
  I despise commercials generally. But the Super Bowl is when marketers used to bring their A-game, with a very different feel from usual ads.
  Now they just bring A-listers instead, put them on the screen and say, “Look who we hired! Now buy our product.”
  
  Back when I was in high school (gosh, 2005 or so?) I had a teacher that said he only watched the Superbowl to see the commercials.
  Me, being someone who tunes out, mutes, or otherwise does whatever possible to avoid being subject to ads, thought it was absurd. Sure, companies may go all-out if they think their ad will pay off, but there are so many things designed to entertain us that aren’t also trying to push us to buy something.
  But saying that out loud seems to confuse people.
  
  Usually you're right, Commercials are only annoying. The Super Bowl USED to be the exception, where companies would go all out to make something entertaining enough to be memorable. That was where the good ideas, the creative productions, would be found. If you believe there is any reality in which a commercial can be entertaining to watch, the Super Bowl was where you would find it. I've been to Super Bowl watch parties in which the entire crowd would go quiet just to catch the commercials. They were absolutely an entertaining part of the experience, and if you didn't especially care about football they were easily the best part.
  These days, though, not so much. These days it seems like the popular approach is just to find whatever celebrity will draw the most attention, and any form of creativity is secondary at best.
  
  It's been like that for decades. At one time people would watch FOR the commercials. Commercial companies used to bring their A-game, and debut unique ads that you'd talk about for years.
  This year felt mostly like just average commercials you could have seen during any commercial break.
  In the 80s, Energizer had ads that you thought were ads for other products. Then they'd switch it up, and surprise! It's the energizer bunny.
  In the 90s, they had the budweiser frogs, the taco bell dog, and the wassup guys.
  Now though? Ugh. Nothing funny or memorable happened.
- This is a football game we're talking about?

Kendrick Lamar's halftime show performance ... not having one white performer on stage
Heh-heh, excellent.

Are One Direction even still together?

Ehh, theyre just confirming that they are racists. Also rap and hiphop is a mainly black thing. Its in their culture because of the opression. Its like being upset that there are only french skiers or something.

Wait, diversity is a good thing? I thought we cancelled DEI?

I do think it is silly to focus on race
However, I could care less (I don't see color)
- Not seeing color can mean erasure. Denying the reality of different colors and cultures can also mean an over emphasis on conformity to the majority. Maybe that's not what you meant, but that's how some people take it.

I was whining about how lame the performance was.
- I just heard it was boring. I dunno I didn't watch the sportsball, I also don't care for Kendrick Lamar.
  
  It was definitely boring compared to last year.

60 comments