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Super Bowl Halftime Show Complaints Focused on Lack of DEI for White People

The FCC received 125 complaints about Kendrick Lamar’s concert, according to public records obtained by WIRED, with many focusing on the lack of white performers.

But according to a Federal Communications Commission response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from WIRED, the single biggest source of anger was not about the performance itself. But dozens of complainants were open in their beliefs that featuring the all-Black ensemble at halftime was racist against white people, in a bizarre twist on the wider culture war over diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI). Many complainants completely missed what critics said was the point of the show, which was to highlight the struggle of Black artists to achieve proper representation while seeing their art, talent, and culture appropriated by others.

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