Touchdown: The Super Bowls' Musical Statements

"The only thing more powerful than hate is love"

"The revolution's about to be televised. You picked the right idea but the wrong guy"

While the messages of the two consecutive Halftime shows seem to contradict one another, they work to accomplish the same goal: to fix the country they see to be broken.

Media in Politics

Starting at the beginning of the United States, media has had an effect on politics. Moving from paintings, to newspapers, to telegrams, to radio, to television, to the internet, America has been swayed by the media.

On September 26, 1960 emerged the first televised presidential debate: a showdown between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. This debate swung the tides in favor of JFK, who was running against the sitting president at the time. Unlike Nixon, who was visibly nervous on screen, Kennedy presented himself as cool and collected.

2025: Kendrick Lamar's Performance

At the time of Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime performance, Donald Trump was the newly inaugurated president: much to the distaste of approximately 50.2% of Americans. A particular upset demographic was the African American community.

Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime performance mirrored the political climate of the time and was a bold societal critique of systematic racism in the United States. At the beginning of the show, Kendrick Lamar made a point of highlighting the negative connotation surrounding the word "ghetto" by dressing Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam and requiring him to deliver a warning to Lamar about making the show too ghetto for the American public.

His most famous line, "The revolution's about to be televised. You picked the right idea but the wrong guy" is a nod to Donald Trump's recent victory as well as his community's disappointment and expectation for the four years to come.