Atlantans Question Maroon 5 Super Bowl Halftime Show

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The 2019 Super Bowl will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. / AP Photo/File

It’s the biggest game of the NFL season- the Super Bowl.  In February, the 53rd chapter of the game in will be played in Atlanta.

With hundreds of millions of people tuning in to watch, Atlanta will also host the largest concert of the year- the Super Bowl halftime show. This year’s performer is L.A.-based Maroon 5.

The announcement of that decision was met with swift backlash on social media. Many Twitter users mocked the NFL’s decision, drawing attention to the number of musicians that call Atlanta home. People like T.I, Ludacris, Usher and OutKast just to name a few.

The Atlanta Falcons hosted the New Orleans Saints a few days after the decision to have Maroon 5 perform. As fans gathered to tailgate and enjoy an early season match up, they also voiced their displeasure with the pick.

“I don’t turn stuff off because I don’t agree with it,” Grant Park resident Matthew Keene-Reagan said. “But if you want to understand what this city is about, who we are, what we stand for... pick someone from Atlanta to represent us at the halftime show. Not some boys from L.A.”

Keene-Reagan wasn’t alone. Bernard Green lives in Atlanta and said he feels the same.

“I think people come to Atlanta not just for the game but for the culture of the city,” Green said. “So, you do that in your food, why not do that for the music as well and experience the local music.”

Historically, the Super Bowl hasn’t necessarily catered to the host city by choosing a hometown artist.

Beyoncé performed at the game in New Orleans, but she’s a Houston native. And, last year, Justin Timberlake headlined the show in Minneapolis, but he’s from Memphis.

The basis for the uproar from Atlantans is centered around the main issue of culture. Many people who were disappointed with the NFL’s choice said it missed a chance to capitalize on Atlanta’s.

Maurice Hobson, who teaches Atlanta history and African-American studies at Georgia State University, said the issue of culture is complicated because of the current climate surrounding the NFL, specifically National Anthem protests.  

“You have these things on the ground in terms of the political context of what's going on today,” Hobson said. “This could have been an opportunity for the NFL to kind of showcase black talent but they don't have control over what the artist are going to say when they get on a halftime stage.”

Earlier this year, T.I. announced he would boycott the NFL due to its anthem policy which required players to stand or stay in the locker room during the pregame performance of the song. That policy has since been lifted by the league for this year.

Hobson said choices like T.I.’s narrow the list of Atlanta artists that can perform on the international stage that the NFL is trying to appeal to.

“We have to ask ourselves a question,” he said. “What hip-hop Atlanta artists can really carry that Super Bowl kind of weight?”

A quick look at the music streaming platform, Spotify, shows Maroon 5 boasts some 41 million plus monthly listeners. That ranks them sixth in the world.

Atlanta group Migos ranks 84th in the world, and 2Chainz comes in at 138th in the world. Both T.I. and OutKast come in even lower.

That didn’t stop fans from rooting for local artists to appear on the Super Bowl stage. Green said he would’ve picked Migos, OutKast, T.I. or even Gucci Mane.

His partner Hattie Best said she would’ve liked to see a collaboration of sorts with the old heads and newer artists.

But not everyone felt Atlanta missed its chance to shine. Bill Odom, who resides in Little Five Points, said the chance for the city’s culture to shine goes well beyond a 20-minute halftime show.

“I really think the much bigger thing is what kind of other show do we put on,” Odom said. “To have all eyes of the world on Atlanta much beyond what the halftime show is... how do we treat the people from out of town and the other teams that are here?”

Odom said though it doesn’t seem likely Atlanta will be represented by a musical act, he hopes the city will be represented by a team — the Falcons — and he thinks the city will still have a positive showing.