Rihanna Super Bowl Halftime Show Generates FCC Complaints, New Prop Bet is Born
On the surface, it looked like one of the cleanest Super Bowl Halftime Show performances in some time. No cleavage, performers, including the star Rihanna, were all clad in Teletubbyies outfits and zero cleavage showing. That paid out $30 on a $10 bet.
But one aspect of Rihanna's performance was not missed by eagle-eyed Gambling911.com staffers. Both our lead investigative reporter, Thomas Somach, and Editor-at-Large, Payton O'Brien, reached out inquiring about the OVER/UNDER on the number of crotch grabs. It's a prop bet not offered by BetOnline, but certainly will be next Super Bowl.
These two weren't the only one's who took notice.
The FCC received over 103 complaints, one of them probably from Mr. Somach. Most claimed the performance was "overly sexualized". Good grief.
TMZ points out that a viewer in California even compared Rihanna's set to Kim Petras and Sam Smith's performance at the Grammys, writing ... "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?"
Another viewer in Utah wrote: "This year the halftime show was so indecent I had to turn off the TV because of the pornographic content."
Lyrics to the songs were said to be "too sexy" despite quite a few of them being chart toppers and Grammy Award winners. In fact, the Barbadian singer has been nominated for 32 Grammys and won nine times.
Some of the viewers claimed Rihanna's background dancers "were patently offensive and completely inappropriate for children" even though all of them were wearing blankets.
If you think that 103 number is a low one, you'd be right.
Over 1,300 complaints were sent to the FCC about Shakira and J.Lo’s Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2020.
Yahoo's Christopher Rosa at the time suggested this was all sexist.
"Nelly, whose crotch-grabbing antics are the sole reason I sneaked out of my house in middle school," he wrote of the Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show appearance, and "Bruce Springsteen literally thrusting his crotch into the face of America".
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
