Cardi B Addresses Super Bowl Halftime Show Performance Rumors

Rapper Cardi B was featured on Maroon 5‘s latest hit single, but will not perform with the band at the Super Bowl LIII halftime show, despite the rumors.

“It wouldn’t be the perfect time,” the “Bodak Yellow” rapper told Entertainment Tonight Friday. “I stand on what I stand, you know what I’m saying? I stand on what I stand. I am doing other things, because, you know, they like to make money out of us. Why not make a little money out of them?”

She continued, “I can’t push my limits. My soul wouldn’t feel right. But I know me and Maroon 5 have a lot of performances coming [up]. That song just means so much to me.”

Cardi B contributed a verse to Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You,” but she did not want to show support for the NFL amid the controversy with Colin Kaepernick. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback has been an unsigned free agent since after the 2016 season, when he protested racial injustice and police brutality by kneeling during the National Anthem before games. In 2017, Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL and team owners, alleging collusion to keep him from playing.

The Kaepernick controversy inspired critics to call on Maroon 5 and rapper Travis Scott to decline performing at the Super Bowl. Scott only agreed to perform after the NFL joined him in donating $500,000 to Dream Corps, a non-profit organization supporting social justice. Maroon 5, Interscope Records and the NFL made another $500,00 donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

“I back anyone who takes a stand for what they believe in,” Scott said in a statement. “I know being an artist that it’s in my power to inspire. So before confirming the Super Bowl Halftime performance, I made sure to partner with the NFL on this important donation. I am proud to support Dream Corps and the work they do that will hopefully inspire and promote change.”

Cardi will still be on TV Sunday. She appears in a Pepsi commercial with Lil Jon and Steve Carell.

The rapper also made headlines for sharing her opinions on the government shutdown. She plans on keeping up her political activism, even considering sharing a response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union on Tuesday. The only difficult part will be keeping her cursing to a minimum.

“Sometimes it’s a hard job because I know that I got to set an example, but then I feel like some people, they feel like setting an example is being this angel? And I’m not an angel,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “People expect you to act like a Disney Channel star, and I’m not that. Sometimes I’m very sexual, sometimes I say naughty things. I don’t want to pause myself from doing what I want to do because I’m this ‘role model.’ That’s just not me! I’m a grown woman too! So as a grown woman, I feel like I should do and say what I want.”

Super Bowl LIII kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sunday.

Photo credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images