“Salutations!,” the actor Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as Uncle Sam introduced Kendrick Lamar at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome for the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show — a powerful, commanding creative choice by the first solo hip-hop artist to ever headline the coveted slot.

A performer who was part of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show was detained by security after waving the Sudanese flag and Palestinian flag together with the words “Sudan” and “Gaza” written on them toward the end of the performance,

Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show was filled with symbolism—from Uncle Sam(uel L. Jackson) to a crip walking Serena Williams—but perhaps the most powerful symbol on stage was not even planned,