‘DEI halftime show’: Conservative influencer swarmed online for mocking Kendrick’s Super Bowl performance

Conservatives were divided with Kendrick’s Super Bowl halftime performance. Some of them thought it was a patriotic homage to America, while the others absolutely hated it. One conservative influencer in particular drew the ire of social media users.

Alt-right activist Jack Posobiec didn’t seem to enjoy the Super Bowl at all. Aside from melting down about Taylor Swift on X during the Super Bowl, Posobiec also mocked Kendrick’s performance. He wrote on X, “DEI halftime show.” He implied that Kendrick only performed because the Super Bowl needed to fulfill a diversity quota.

Needless to say, social media disagreed with Posobiec. One X user mocked him back while pointing out the glaring racism in his tweet. They wrote, “Wah wah wah mommy, there’s black people on the TV.” Another X user joked that Posobiec must’ve been triggered by the lack of white people during the 10-minute performance. Meanwhile, another X user would more seriously write, “Enough, just say black already.” Others would also point out that for MAGA and Trump supporters, the term “DEI” has been appropriated as a new slur against black people and other minorities.

Perhaps not everyone is appreciative of rap, but Kendrick is a multi-award winner at the Grammy’s. He won a Pulitzer Prize for music and a BET award for video of the year. He’s essentially at the peak of mainstream pop culture, which makes the criticism of DEI unfair. It seems that for some MAGAs, rap music doesn’t portray the aesthetic of “American culture” they want to push. Unfortunately for them, they don’t get to decide trends in pop culture.

As Samuel Jackson’s Uncle Sam said, “Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto.” MAGA doesn’t want to say the quiet part out loud.

Who does MAGA want to see at the Super Bowl Halftime?

One self-proclaimed MAGA X user tweeted that country singer Oliver Anthony should’ve performed at the Super Bowl halftime instead. Ironically, Oliver Anthony’s ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ sings about an exhausted and underpaid working-class man. Anthony would later denounce Republicans and conservatives who weaponized his song for their political gain. He told on record, “I wrote that song about those people.” The country singer vaguely referred to the GOP presidential candidates.

Anthony, on his part, is determined to write songs that put people at the center. To pit him against another artist for MAGA agenda is counterintuitive.