Lil Wayne has broken his silence about not being tapped to perform at the halftime show at the 2025 Super Bowl in his hometown a week after the NFL announced that Los Angeles native Kendrick Lamar will do the honors. In an Instagram post on Friday (Sept. 13), a serious-sounding explained why it took him a minute to speak out about the booking that “broke” him, while expressing gratitude for the friends and peers who’ve expressed support and questioned why Tunechi was passed over.
“First of all, I want to say forgive me for the delay. I had to get strength enough to do this without breaking,” said a somber, clearly dispirited Wayne. “I’mma say thank you to every voice, every opinion, all the care, all love and support out there. Your words turned into arms and held me up when I tried to fall back.”
Wayne, seated on a couch and dressed in a red, white and blue track jacket and red shorts, got super vulnerable about how the news hit him. “That hurt. It hurt a lot. You know what I’m talking about. It hurt a whole lot,” he said haltingly. “I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown. And for automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position. So I blame myself for that. But I thought that was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt. It hurt a whole lot.”
The pain and vulnerability clearly etched on his face, Weezy bounced from distress to gratitude for all the people who held him up after the news broke. “But y’all are f–king amazing. It made me feel like s–t not getting this opportunity and when I felt like s–t, you guys reminded me that I ain’t s–t without y’all… and that’s an amazing reality,” added the 41-year-old MC who has been repping his city for three decades.
“So, like I said, it broke me and I’m just trying to put me back together,” he continued. “But my God, have you all helped me. Thanks to all of my peers, my friends, my family, my homies on the sports television and everybody repping me. I really appreciate that, I really do. I feel like I let all of y’all all of y’all down by not getting that opportunity, but I’m working on me and I’m working. So thank you.”
Back in February, mega sports fan Wayne openly admitted that he coveted the halftime slot during what is typically the most-watched TV event of the year. “I will not lie to you, I have not got a call,” he said on YG’s 4Hunnid podcast. “But we all praying, we keeping our fingers crossed. I’m working hard. I’m going to make sure this next album and everything I do is killer, so I’m going make it very hard for them to … I want to just make it hard for them not to highlight the boy.”
Since the new about K-Dot broke, a number of fellow rappers have come to Wayne’s defense over what they saw as a snub of the MC whose name is synonymous with the Crescent City. Among the supporters was Lamar’s chief rival Drake, who posted a series of photos of his mentor on Instagram on Tuesday, seemingly lining up behind Weezy without offering any context for his post. Other fellow Young Money/Cash Money family members including Nicki Minaj and Birdman have also spoken up about the perceived slight.
“Denying a young black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason but your ego. Your hatred for BIRDMAN, Drake & Nicki got you punishing Lil Wayne?!?!!! LIL WAYNE!!!!!!!!!! THE GOAT?!!!!!!!!!!! Nola what’s good,” Minaj tweeted. New Orleans native and No Limit Records boss Master P also spoke out in support of Wayne, as did Cam’ron and Mase, with Cam calling the pass-over “egregious.”
After a dry-run sharing the stage with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent during the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show in Los Angeles, Grammy- and Pulitzer Prize-winner Lamar will do the honors at Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 9. 2025; at press time no additional guests had been announced for next year’s halftime show and Lamar had not responded to the backlash about to the Lil Wayne brush-off complaints.
Watch Wayne’s video below.
