FCC Gets Super Bowl Half-Time Show Complaints

Super Bowl Half-Time Performance

The FCC has received at least103 formal complaints about Fox’s Super Bowl LVII broadcast, the majority of which were pegged to Rihanna’s bombshell halftime-show performance, reports The L-A Times.

The complaints are an assortment of grievances about the “Umbrella” singer’s “rude, obscene ‘performance‘” that described her sexualized lyrics and her background dancers’ gyrating choreography as offensive or inappropriate.

Rihanna, 35, who also surprised viewers by revealing that she was pregnant with her second child during the performance, did not dance much during the highly anticipated concert but sang a medley of her hits, including “B— Better Have My Money,” “Where Have You Been,” “Only Girl (In the World),” “We Found Love” and “Work.” The soaring performance was Rihanna’s first since 2016 and has been praised by fans, but also elicited the ire of conservative pundits.

And her white-clad background dancers — who have been compared to sperm, clouds and pillows — used body language that was enough to upset audiences across the country who did more than just tweet their gripes. A fraction of the football game’s viewers (113.1 million average but 118.7 million for halftime) likened Rihanna’s set to pornography and lamented the decline of decency, according to the list of complaints posted on the FCC’s website.

“Inappropriate touching and dance moves, very raunchy for a family to watch. Little kids do not need to see this,” said one complaint from Rockton, Ill.

“The performance was very over sexualized and there were many instances where Rihanna had her background dancers doing very explicit dances,” wrote a viewer from Lone Tree, Colo. “On top of all this 4 of the songs she chose to sing were about sex. This is supposed to be a family friendly show but we look at this and wish we were given a heads up for explicit content prior so we could get our child out of the room.”

“The sexualization, genital grabbing, sniffing of her fingers, man pulling off his jacket and then girating[sic] all while singing lyrics far too inappropriate for a family sport event. I will NOT watch this again next year if this is how you are going to disrespect our nation,” wrote a viewer from Janesville, Calif.

“I don’t care what someone worships but children shouldn’t be exposed to pornography and as an adult I don’t wish to see it ... Where has decency gone? How about respect for others and self?” an Antioch, Calif., viewer wrote, likening RiRi’s show to Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ controversial performance of “Unholy” at the Grammy Awards earlier this month. (The duo also caught heat for a similar outing at the BRIT Awards.)

Although 103 complaints might seem substantial, it’s a drop in the bucket compared with the number the commission received in 2004 when Justin Timberlake caused Janet Jackson’s so-called “wardrobe malfunction” that exposed her bare breast to about 90 million viewers during their halftime performance. That incident generated 540,000 complaints and resulted in a fine for broadcaster CBS. 

Meanwhile, Rihanna has been tapped to perform again on national TV next month. She’ll be singing her newest song, the Oscar-nominated “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” at the 95th Academy Awards on March 12.