While players on the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos National Football League teams took a break in the middle of Super Bowl 50, the performers who took the stage in the center of the field at Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area in Santa Clara, California, and their songs "subtly" promoted left-wing causes such as gay love and Black Lives Matter.
The singer whose full name is Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter made “a powerful statement on both racism and police brutality.” And as if that wasn't liberal enough, the British rock band Coldplay put on what was later called “a 12-minute tribute to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) love.”
According to an article posted by the Agence France-Presse news agency, the band “paid tribute to the Super Bowl's host city of San Francisco with a stage that flashed in the tie-dye of the city's 1960s counterculture as dancers on the field hoisted giant flower shapes.”
Tom Barnes, a staff writer and editor at the Music.Mic website, stated: “For much of the nation, the first two hours of Super Bowl 50 were nothing but pregame. When halftime finally came, it was on.”
Barnes then indicated that the colorful program “focused on music, activism and the intersection between the two.”
However, he also noted: “A few choice moments helped put those colors in perspective.”
“During one of the performance's early shots, Chris Martin went up to a member of the crowd” who was “waving a gay pride flag” over the singer's head, the writer indicated. “Within that moment, the performance's entire meaning changed: Millions of viewers just watched a 12-minute tribute to LGBT love.”
“Like so much of the best political critique,” Barnes asserted, “Coldplay and Beyoncé's nods were subtle but amounted to one of the most explicitly political halftime performances in recent memory.”
Another performer during the halftime show was Peter Gene Hernandez -- professionally known by his stage name “Bruno Mars” -- who is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and choreographer.
The show's “explosive ending seemed to drive that LGBT nod home,” Barnes added. “After Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars finished their final song,” the audience “held up placards that spelled out an inspiring message in rainbow colors: “Believe in Love.”
The Guardian’s Alex Needham described the program's finale as perhaps “a sweet affirmation of same-sex marriage.”
It didn't take long for the event to be reflected in posts on the Twitter social media website.
@tylersscarfsays remarked: “this halftime show had lgbt pride written all over it I'm so happy” while @HopeCastellani said he was “impressed by the super bowl half time performance that was promoting LGBT and racial equality, it's 2016 love all.”
Meanwhile, @RubyRoseLover0 summed up his feelings in three words: “BEST HALFTIME SHOW!!”
Other tweets came from people who didn't get the “secret meaning” and were apparently not fans of the British band.
@MarcSnetiker declared: “One man's garbage is another man's Coldplay;” and @badbanana stated: “I give the halftime show producers credit. They understand that nobody wants to hear an entire Coldplay song.”
“Stop hating on Coldplay,” @boudreau posted. “They have played in hundreds of fine elevators around the world.”
@LaurenBans asserted: “I feel like Coldplay surrounded themselves with a human shield made up of children so we can't be mean to them.”
And @johnmoe joked that Coldplay is “performing their hit song 'When Does Beyoncé Get Here?'"
In addition, Barnes noted: “Immediately following the halftime show, Donald Trump tweeted his disappointment in the Super Bowl by calling it “very boring -- not nearly as exciting as politics -- MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
In response, @hallo_jauregul posted: “He's probably just petty about black and lgbt representation during the halftime show.”
Barnes agreed with that Twitter message by stating: “The Super Bowl may be doing more to make America great again than he is.”
So much for being subtle.
Unfortunately, the NFL has blocked the airing of any video of the halftime program, claiming the organization made the move “on copyright grounds.”
