Oh No: The Hits Keep Right on Coming for Lizzo as She's Off the List of Potential Super Bowl Halftime Performers
If there's one thing that American culture is good at, it is the Fall From Grace. We might not have invented it (I'm giving the patent on that to the Romans who stabbed Caesar to death in front of everybody), but we have perfected it.
Lizzo is just the latest example in a long, long line of celebrities that were built up, only to be torn down. One day she's a celebrated multi-platinum artist being clumsily stunt-casted into a Star Wars series with Jack Black:
Then she gets accused of fat-shaming and sexual harassment by her backup dancers, and she's comedy fodder for the great Tim Dillon:
Lizzo has lost social media followers by the hundreds of thousands. Her catalogue has plummeted from the tops of the music streaming platforms. And just went it seemed like she had fallen as far as she could, the bottom she was about to hit has dropped even further out of sight:
Source - Lizzo has been dropped from Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show consideration after facing a series of shocking sexual harassment and fat-shaming allegations from former dancers - leaving her team in a desperate scramble to 'save her sinking ship' of a career. …
Now, an NFL insider exclusively tells DailyMail.com that the ensuing backlash over the allegations has prompted the organization to immediately drop Lizzo from Super Bowl Halftime Show contention - having previously had her name in the mix as one of the front-runners for the 2024 spectacle.
'Talks of Lizzo being a part of the Halftime festivities, or performing the National Anthem, are dead now that she is surrounded by scandal,' the source said in the wake of the accusations - which Lizzo vehemently denies.
The annual Super Bowl performance are produced by Roc Nation, the record company owned by 53-year-old rapper Jay-Z - who, after the lawsuit against Lizzo was made public, canceled his upcoming Made In America festival, which she was due to headline.
Look, I don't know how this is going over with the Super Bowl Halftime Show target demo, which I aged out of around the time U2 performed in 2002. (For example: Two years ago my opera-loving Irish Rose were watching the game with our neighbors. And at the same time, both our son and their daughter were separately sending each of us nearly identical texts about how they were on their couches with their significant others singing along with every song. When I objected, my boy said something to the effect of how old I sound. How 50 Cent got shot eight times and Eminem's father died tragically and look at how successful they've become. So I texted back, "Stevie Wonder was born blind and can perform circles around everyone on this stage." Pick any random song off "Songs in the Key of Life" or "Innervisions" and tell me I'm wrong.) So neither the NFL nor Roc Nation care whether I wanted to see Lizzo perform or not. But given the fact it's now sponsored by Apple Music, and until about an hour ago Lizzo was one of their biggest cash-- let's make that, most popular and lucrative performers (good thing I stopped myself), this is a harsh decision indeed. And catastrophic for her career. There's no other place she could enjoy so much exposure. (OK, I hear that one too, but it stays.)
So let this be a lesson to any musical artist who's hoping to tap into the massive mainstream audience that awaits anyone who can demonstrate broad crossover appeal. The lawless days of hippie concerts, coked up Metal bands trashing their hotel rooms and aging pop stars passing underage groupies around like bongs. Huge corporations sponsor these mega-events. They're going to be super careful about who represents their brand. Especially the NFL.
Maybe a few years ago they could have The Who despite their half century of debauchery and Pete Townsend's "research" into child pornography. But that ship has sailed. So if you want a slice of that pie (stop it), you can't allegedly coerce your backup dancers into putting their hands on strippers or bully them into eating bananas out of the vaginas of prostitutes. That's the price of admission to the biggest music party America throws. Lizzo has learned that too late.
With all that said, let me end by renewing my appeal for one performer who is long overdue. I've signed one online petition in my life, and it was to get this legendary artist who's been topping the charts for over 40 years onto the big stage where he belongs. Weird Al Yankovich has never even had a whiff of scandal. Make it happen, Jay-Z. Give us Boomers what we want at long last: