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Disney Fans Weren’t Rihanna Fans During the Super Bowl (But The NFL Didn’t Choose Her Either)

Posted by: Becky Burkett February 15, 2023

rihanna half time show superbowl
Credit: Rolling Stone

By and large, Disney fans can be some of the friendliest people you can meet, but they almost have an ingrained affinity for voting for their favorites, choosing sides, and sharing their opinions. And many of them have made it clear–Rihanna and her performance are not who and what they would have picked for the halftime show during Super Bowl LVII. (But they’re in good company since the NFL didn’t pick her either.)

RELATED: Those “Disney Adults” Are Awful Human Beings. And Some Are Barely Human at All

rihanna half time show superbowl

Credit: Rolling Stone

From a very young age, Disney fans are taught to take sides–to pick what they like best. Turkey leg or Mickey pretzel? Disney World or Disneyland? Woody or Buzz? Snow White or Cinderella? To quote from one of Disney’s most iconic classics, Sleeping Beauty, “Make it pink! Make it blue!”

Make It Blue! Make It Pink! Make it Both, I Say! |

“Sleeping Beauty” (1959)/Credit: Walt Disney Animation

And that mindset continued into Sunday evening’s Super Bowl LVII, during which the Kansas City Chiefs took on the Philadelphia Eagles at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, in gameplay, and nine-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Rihanna took on an audience of approximately 100 million during halftime.

Even before the 13-minute performance was over, some Disney fans were taking to social media to poke fun at the performance, which began with the spectacle of a very obviously expectant Rihanna precariously balanced six stories above the astroturf (which was actually a hybrid Bermuda grass this year) in a red puffer suit that we’re sure must have been sweltering.

Photos: Rihanna and the Super Bowl halftime show | CNN

Credit: CNN

On Twitter, user Alicia Stella poked fun at Rihanna’s backup dancers, clad in white puffer suits, likening them to fans at Disney’s Hollywood Studios when the Muppets-inspired venue “PizzeRizzo gets a new cannoli.

Twitter user Sincerely Ivy Marie routinely tweets amazing things that prove she’s one of the biggest Disney fans of all time. She says that she’s a mother of “young Padawans” and that mentally, she’s always at a theme park. (We love this!)

When she saw Rihanna look daringly into the camera during halftime, she immediately fell into her Star Wars roots. “When I’m the rebel spy,” she tweeted with the now-iconic photo of Rihanna, drawing a comparison between Rihanna’s look at the look one might give when he or she is the rebel spy aboard Hollywood Studios‘ Star Tours attraction.

Another Twitter user, TheMouseandMore-Adam, took the same image of Rihanna and compared it to a look from Mickey Mouse at Disney World, tweeting, “I may be bad, but I’m perfectly good at it.”

Pastor Shan tweeted, “But can we agree that Rihanna got her dance team from Disney?” Shan was one of many who drew comparisons between the white puffer suits worn by Rihanna’s backup dancers to those worn by the actors from the Disney original movie, MinuteMen.

Did we mention those Disney fans can be competitive? “When you win Radiator Springs Racers [at Disney California Adventure] by a mile.”

And they love their rope drop, so it’s no surprise that Rihanna’s marshmallow-esque backup dancers running onto the field gave some Disney fans “rope drop” vibes.

While many Disney fans roasted Rihanna and her halftime performance, it’s worth pointing out that the National Football League didn’t pick the “Lift Me Up” artist for the halftime show either. In fact, the NFL doesn’t pick any of the artists for the Super Bowl halftime shows. According to The Locker Room at BetUs.com, that decision is made by the host city. So in Rihanna’s case, constituents in Glendale, Arizona, made the call to bring Rihanna to Super Bowl LVII:

The [NFL] takes into account the value of the artists’ overall performance, popularity, and musical genre. For example, even though Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones were at their peak back in the 60s, they didn’t have the mass appeal required to perform at the Super Bowl halftime.

The NFL begins with well-known performers who have the broadest appeal before moving on. That said, the NFL does not select who takes the stage. The Super Bowl halftime entertainers are chosen by the host towns after the NFL compiles a short list.

So, love her or despise her, you can thank the good people of Glendale, Arizona, for awarding the halftime show stage to Rihanna.

About Becky Burkett

Becky's from the Lone Star State and has been writing since she was 10 and encountered her first Disney Park when she was 11. It was love at first Main Street Electrical Parade. Joy is blank lined journals, 0.7 mm pens, and all things Walt, Woody and Buzz, PIXAR, Imagineering, Sleeping Beauty (make it blue!), Disney Parks history and EPCOT. At Disney World, you'll find her croonin' with the birdies at the Enchanted Tiki Room or hangin' with Woody and the gang at Toy Story Land. If you can dream, you really can do it!