“Is this a threat”- Internet in a frenzy over rumors of JAY-Z headlining 2026 Super Bowl halftime show

JAY-Z has been rumored to be headlining the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. The rumours started on June 22, 2025, on social media and news, with Hip Hop Vibe reporting on it on the same day. The report has started a frenzy on the internet, as exemplified by the tweets:

"Is this a threat"

Others reacted to the rumours in a varied manner, with some pointing out the hilarity of JAY-Z taking the headliner spot in an event managed by his company, Roc Nation, while others questioned what songs the rapper might headline the event with and how people might react to his headlining of the event:

"This is like the principal of a high school making himself prom king. . .," one netizen stated.

"I’m ngl eventually white people gonna skip the Super Bowl and it’s going to become a big seafood buffet," another netizen reacted.

"With what songs?," one fan stated.

"Besides umbrella, I don’t know anything else about the work he did..why not Dua lipa?!," another fan stated.

"Name 5 jay z songs or die," one commenter reacted.

"So Jay Z hired himself?," one reactor questioned.

JAY-Z has never performed at the Super Bowl halftime

JAY-Z has never performed at the Super Bowl halftime. The rapper instead has been managing the event since 2019. The rapper and his company, Roc Nation, signed a $25 million deal to become the live music strategist arm of the event.

Since then, all the headliners have been chosen by JAY-Z, as Jesse Collins explained to Variety in an interview published on September 16, 2024:

"It’s a decision that Jay makes. Since we’ve been on board with that show, he’s made it every year, and it’s been amazing. He’s always picked right!"

JAY-Z himself explained why he had never performed at the Super Bowl halftime event in a press conference in 2019, here quoted in Business Insider's article on the matter on February 13, 2023:

"The process of selection was fractured. You take four artists and everyone thinks they're playing the Super Bowl. It's almost like this interview process. That's not even good math. After three years, nine people are upset and three people play. Ain't that many superstars in the world. You're gonna run out of people that want to play..."

JAY-Z also talked about how the partnership with the NFL would bring the spotlight on rap and other genres like it:

"I think that for a long time, and not just the NFL, but America in general looked at rap as this fad thing. It's the number one genre in the world and has been that way ... So I would love for these platforms as being more inclusive of our music."

The Roc Nation partnership was for 5 years at the time of the contract. It is unclear if the contract was extended or not beyond that. Since Roc Nation started managing the event, the NFL has had better representation from minority communities in its artist rosters, with a majority of the 2020s headliners coming from POC communities.

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These include headliners like Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, and Rihanna, and other performers such as Mustard, Alicia Keys, 50 Cent, and more. The NFL Super Bowl halftime is one of the longest-running music performances at a sporting event in the US, having been first held in 1967 and annually ever since as part of the Super Bowl.

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