MUSIC
Rihanna’s Super Bowl performance resulted in FCC indecency complaints
The singer’s big comeback at Super Bowl LVII wasn’t well received by everyone watching at home.
Rihanna’s Super Bowl LVII halftime show had some people up in arms, with more than 100 people writing to the Federal Communication Commission to complain about the overt sexuality the singer and her dancers displayed during the 13-minute performance.
The big Super Bowl halftime show
The singer’s big 2023 comeback took place on February 12 at the State Farm Stadium in Arizona. Having been away from the limelight for many years, the pregnant Rihanna made a splashy halftime performance while suspended 30 feet in the air.
However, the ‘Umbrella’ singer has received backlash from some who felt it was an overly sexual performance.
What were the complaints against Rihanna?
According to the FCC website, audiences complained about Rihanna’s “overtly sexual dancing” and “hand sniffing” during the show.
“Inappropriate touching and dance moves, very raunchy for a family to watch,” one note reads. “Little kids do not need to see this.”
Another person wrote that it was “sick sick sick,” and several notes complained about the pregnant singer’s “sexualization, genital grabbing, sniffing of her fingers [...] gyrating… and rear end… grabbing”.
Others called it “filth”, and hit out at the “perpetual air humping… glorifying being a stripper”, and “[her dancers] holding their hands up the cracks of their butts and pumping.”
Someone else pleaded: “Can we please have a half time show where the artist doesn’t grab their crotch or try to dry hump the lead singer. I really don’t want to see 30 back up dancers doing pelvic thrusts. Ew. Also, twerking should rank up there with the F bomb.”
“The halftime show was disgusting,” said yet another person. “Scratching your crotch and anus and the sniffing your fingers makes me puke. The devil sequence was blatantly anti Christian and so inappropriate. Why is this trash allowed on television?”
Another added: “If I were to go to a place where children were present and did these same motions, I would probably be arrested. Therefore, I don’t see how it is fair for it to happen on television against our will and without warning. Quite infuriated that things like this continue to be permitted.”