Predictably, both Adin Ross and xQc have responded to recent remarks from fellow streamer Pokimane regarding Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime performance.
As we reported earlier this week, the performance saw Kendrick avoiding a setlist that looked too deep into his past, with the focus instead largely remaining on the GNX era, and yes, his Grammys-sweeping Drake diss “Not Like Us.” When reacting to the faction of viewers who were not fond of the set, Pokimane, as seen below, highlighted that “people with zero musical capabilities” of their own had taken to questioning whether Kendrick deserved the headline slot at all.
“Only white people hated it,” she said of the performance itself. “I didn’t wanna say it. As a white-passing person, I didn’t wanna say that but you saying that and me repeating that message, I’m just gonna let that sit.”
Pokimane went on to elaborate further, adding, “The people that I saw with this take the most were white men.” She also emphasized the “underlying messages” from the performance that she, and others, have argued were missed by some viewers.
Ross, in a subsequent stream, took issue with Pokimane’s assessment.
“Fuck Pokimane too,” he said. “Pokimane, fuck you. You’re a fake, twisted bitch. You’d only come after white people because, guess what, Pokimane? You know that’s what they’re gonna cater to and shit like that. You can’t get canceled for coming after white people. Why do you people have to bring race up, in general? Why? Keep it to yourself, bitch.”
xQc took a similar approach, arguing that the “point of the halftime show isn’t to give the world some puzzle to figure out.” The Canadian streamer also appeared to suggest that Pokimane’s comments, specifically, were “ridiculous’ and “dumb as fuck” from his perspective.
“Don’t act like it’s people’s fault for missing the mark,” he said. “Don’t put the blame on the people watching.”
In the days since Kendrick capped off a blockbuster run with his New Orleans performance, itself a precursor, of sorts, to his SZA-featuring Grand National Tour, the reactions have continued to pile up. Ben Stiller, Chris Brown, Killer Mike, Ye, and Magic Johnson were among those who praised the performance.
Plaqueboymax, meanwhile, was left unimpressed, later telling fans “that shit wasn’t it to me.”
Revisit the performance in full here, then take a closer look at what Kendrick and company pulled off on the world's biggest stage.
