Yes, the Kansas City Chiefs battled it out with the Philadelphia Eagles for the biggest trophy in football, trying for a history-making three-peat Super Bowl win.
But the real action at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans? Much of it happened off the field — the camera catching Taylor Swift as she cheered on boyfriend Travis Kelce — or, in the case of Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance, while the players were in their locker rooms.
Here are the biggest nonsport moments from Super Bowl LIX.
1. That dazzling halftime show
Fresh off his big win at the Grammys, Lamar’s halftime show was a predictably thoughtful meditation on “the American game,” all red, white and blue and packed with social commentary, featuring Samuel L. Jackson as “your Uncle Sam,” interjecting throughout: “Do you really know how to play the game, Mr. Lamar? Tighten up”; “That’s what the people want.”
On a stripped-down stage, with dancers dressed in the colours of the American flag, it was a minimalist spectacle, showcasing some of Lamar’s best-known songs, including “Humble,” “DNA” and “TV Off.” He was also joined by SZA for their two hit songs together, “Luther” and “All the Stars.”
But the question on everyone’s mind was whether Lamar would play “Not Like Us,” his massive, controversial and Grammy-winning diss track against Toronto rapper Drake. Lamar teased the song several times throughout the performance — at one point making a sly reference to Drake’s ongoing defamation lawsuit against his record label Universal Music Group: “I want to perform their favourite song, but you know they love to sue,” Lamar joked midway through the set.
Inevitably, Lamar concluded his set with a raucous rendition of “Not Like Us,” during which he brought out his collaborator Mustard. In what must have been a difficult moment for Drake, wherever he was, the audience in the stadium could be heard loudly singing along to the infamous “A minor” line, a lyrical takedown that accuses Drake of alleged pedophilia.
In what may have also been a reference to that feud, “GAME OVER” was projected in lights as Lamar’s performance concluded.
2. Serena Williams’s jaw-dropping surprise appearance
Prior to the halftime show, Lamar promised fans a “BIG SURPRISE,” but no one could have predicted the brief but impactful appearance by tennis superstar Serena Williams, who was among the dancers during the “Not Like Us” finale.
Williams’s appearance was notable for three reasons.
First, she’s Serena Williams, and looked cool as hell.
Second, she used her brief moment on camera to do the Crip Walk, a dance that originated in Compton, where both Lamar and Williams grew up. Many observers were quick to note that Williams also did a Crip Walk during the 2012 Summer Olympics, after defeating Maria Sharapova in the gold-medal match in Wimbledon. At the time, Williams faced an onslaught of criticism, due to the dance’s association with California gang culture. “Man, I did not Crip Walk like that at Wimbledon,” Williams said in a video she posted on X after the performance. “I would’ve been fined!”
Third, Williams’s appearance worked as yet another subtle (or not-so-subtle) shot at Drake, who was briefly romantically involved with the tennis star a decade ago. In “Not Like Us,” Lamar warns Drake that he “better not speak on Serena,” likely a reference to a Drake song from 2022 in which he refers to Williams’s husband as “a groupie.”
3. Kendrick Lamar’s jeans
Another major talking point from the halftime show was Lamar’s decision to wear flared, bootcut jeans by Celine.
“can’t believe kendrick did all that in the most hannah montana lookin bootcut jeans i’ve seen in years,” one X user quipped.
“Kendrick’s jeans are 90s teen/ elder millennial representation,” wrote another.
4. The Sudanese-Palestinian flag
A performer in Lamar’s halftime show was detained on the field after unfurling a combination Sudanese-Palestinian flag with “Sudan” and “Gaza” written on it. The protester was not arrested, according to the New Orleans Police Department.
Since the outbreak of wars in Sudan and Gaza, liberation movements in both regions have expressed solidarity with each other, calling the conflicts deeply linked and interwoven.
Though it wasn’t captured by television cameras, footage from inside the stadium showed the performer, who was part of Lamar’s 400-member field cast, holding up the flag while standing atop Lamar’s Buick Regal GNX.
Roc Nation, the entertainment company that produced the show, said that the act “was neither planned nor part of the production and was never in any rehearsal.”
5. President Trump’s appearance
Flanked by two of his children, Ivanka and Don Jr., and met with a mixture of cheers and boos when he popped up on the jumbotron saluting during Jon Batiste’s jazz-inflected national anthem performance, U.S. President Donald Trump was at the game — the first sitting president ever to attend a Super Bowl.
Before he left Mar-a-Lago for Louisiana, Trump released a statement that said, in part, “The coaches, players, and team staff on the field tonight represent the best of the best in professional football, but they also embody the best of the American dream.”
Trump, who recently signed an executive order banning biological males from women’s sports, also said that the two teams “represent the hopes and dreams of our nation’s young athletes as we restore safety and fairness in sports and equal opportunities among their teams.”
The attendance of a president who has also signed an executive order “terminating radical DEI” coincided with a change in the words written in the end zone: “Choose love” now replaces “End racism,” an inscription that had been in place since the 2020 protests against the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white police officer.
6. Taylor Swift’s reception
One year after Taylor Swift kissed Travis Kelce on the field as his team celebrated their win, Swift was back at the Super Bowl to support her man. This time, however, she was greeted with boos by some in the crowd when she popped up on the jumbotron early in the game.
In footage shared by the NFL, Swift looks a little perplexed when she hears the crowd reaction. She seemed to shake it off, side-eyeing briefly before laughing a little uncomfortably, and possibly saying, “What is going on?” Serena Williams quickly tweeted her support, writing, “I love you … don’t listen to those boooo!![sic]”
Otherwise, Swift’s furrow-browed attention seems to have been firmly on the game, which was not going her boyfriend’s way: At halftime, the Chiefs were down 24 points to the Eagles, with Kelce not catching any passes.
It’s estimated that Swift has single-handedly made the NFL $1 billion in brand equity and boosted ticket and merch sales, particularly among younger women, since she and Kelce started dating in 2023.
Her game day style for the occasion? A white Saint Laurent blazer, bedazzled shorts by Monday DNM, and boots by Paris Texas, accessorized by a Givenchy bag in Chiefs red. She also wore the “T” necklace she sported at the Grammys last weekend, now almost certainly standing for “Travis,” not “Taylor.”
While some speculated that Swift might invite her friend Blake Lively, currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Justin Baldoni that has divided public opinion, to join her at the game in a show of support, she was actually joined by rapper Ice Spice, who guested on her single “Karma” in 2023. (There’s lore here, too: Ice Spice was the subject of racist remarks by Matty Healy, the 1975 frontman and Swift’s former love interest.) Swift’s long-time friend, stylist and designer Ashley Avignone, was on her other side.
Other celebs in the crowd included Jon Hamm, who introduced the Chiefs as they ran on field; Bradley Cooper, who did the same for the Eagles; Lady Gaga with rapper Doechi; Paul Rudd; Jay-Z; and Tom Cruise, who narrated the opening montage on television.
7. The tribute to the victims of the Bourbon Street terrorist attack
Before kickoff — and after a moment of silence for football matriarch Virginia McCaskey, who recently died at 102 — there was a pause to remember the 14 people killed in a terror attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day. Photographs of the victims, which included a New Orleans Saints football team member who had been scheduled to work the Super Bowl, were held by some of the first responders who had been on scene.
Trump also met with some of the families of those killed.
