Usher headlined the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show in Las Vegas on Sunday night and delivered a 13-minute set of some of his biggest hits. While Megyn admitted she wasn’t blown away by the performance, she did give the Grammy-winner credit for certain aspects of the show.
On Monday’s program, Megyn was joined by Blain Crain, Jake Crain, and David Cone, hosts of The Daily Wire’s Crain & Company, to discuss the halftime show and why Usher deserved “kudos” for it.
The Halftime Show
Usher took center stage at Allegiant Stadium for the Super Bowl LVIII halftime show with a 14-song set that included hits such as “Caught Up,” “My Boo,” “OMG,” “Turn Down for What,” and “Yeah!” He was joined for guest appearances by Alicia Keys, Jermaine Dupri, H.E.R., will.i.am, Lil Jon, and Ludacris.
For a certain demographic, the concert was a nostalgic trip down memory lane. “I feel like if you didn’t illegally download one of those songs on LimeWire when you were growing up, I don’t want to hear you beating on the halftime show,” Jake joked.
Blain agreed. “Usher kind of reminded me of Terry Crews in White Chicks with his shirt off. It’s a 40-year-old guy trying to live his life up a little bit,” he said. “But the songs brought back the middle school dance vibe, back when America was good… and you could listen to this music, and it wasn’t so complicated with all the wokeness and crap that’s in it now.”
Megyn, however, wasn’t so sure. “I’m not going to lie: It didn’t resonate with me,” she said. “Usher is an amazing dancer and obviously a talented guy, but I just didn’t love the music.”
She also didn’t love seeing Keys. “I’m still mad at Alicia Keys too because she definitely wore pro-Palestinian gear right after the October 7 Israeli attack and said she wanted to take up paragliding,” she noted. “Hello! I’m watching you. I know what you said and did.”
‘Kudos’ to Usher
Even so, Megyn said Usher did deserve some praise. “Kudos to Usher for not showing me any vagina for the entire Super Bowl halftime show,” she shared. “That’s progress. Unlike with JLo and Shakira [in 2020].”
There was, however, a shedding of clothing during the performance. Two decades after Janet Jackson’s infamous ‘nipplegate’ controversy, Usher ripped his shirt off mid-way through the set. “The nipple bet did hit,” Blain quipped. “There was a bet out there: Will Usher show a nipple?”
Megyn said she was “okay” with Usher “freeing the male nipple” because the “societal standards” are different. “Let’s not pretend,” she noted. “It’s not the same as seeing vag. I saw Shakira’s vag.”
Modesty actually may have been the theme du jour. “There was actually a funny moment to me early on in this halftime show where it was clear he did the Michael Jackson-style crotch grab,” Megyn explained. “You could tell just from like the gyration above the waist, and CBS clearly cut up the shot from the full body to just the top body so you couldn’t see it.”
That choice stood out to her. “It’s interesting that that is now too much,” she noted. But she isn’t complaining. “I appreciate them keeping it relatively clean as I have young ones at home and just want to watch football,” Megyn concluded. “I don’t need to see vag. I don’t really need to see crotch grabs either. So, thumbs up on that.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Crain & Company by tuning in to episode 722 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.