The Weeknd Paid $7 Million Of His Own Money For Super Bowl Halftime Performance
The Weeknd Paid $7 Million Of His Own Money For Super Bowl Halftime Performance
The Weeknd is paying big bucks to make sure his upcoming Super Bowl performance is up to par.
The Save Your Tears singer will be headlining the halftime show for Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Fl. on Feb. 7, and he reached into his own pocket to guarantee it’s a win.
He told Billboard,
“We’ve been really focusing on dialing in on the fans at home and making performances a cinematic experience, and we want to do that with the Super Bowl.”
His manager, Wassim Slaiby added that while Super Bowl organizers usually pay the hefty price, The Weeknd threw in $7 million of his own funds to
“make this halftime show be what he envisioned.”
The Weeknd’s co-manager Amir “Cash” Esmailian continued,
“We always had the Super Bowl on our bucket list, and we’ve always had timelines for all of our goals. It came a few years earlier than we expected.”
While he’s performing at the Super Bowl, he won’t be hitting the stage at the Grammy Awards this year after not receiving any nominations.
During an interview with Variety, when asked if The Weeknd would be involved with the show at all, Harvey Mason, president of the Recording Academy, said:
“Not that I’m aware of.”
He added:
‘Traditionally a large percentage of our performers have been current nominees, but not always. There is no hard and fast rule.’
The Weeknd previously called out the Grammy Awards after getting snubbed for his After Hours album.
Harvey Mason, Jr. previously denied speculation that The Weeknd was snubbed because he’s the Super Bowl performer this year.
“Voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd’s performance at the Super Bowl was announced. So in no way could it have affected the nomination process. All Grammy nominees are recognized by the voting body for their excellence, and we congratulate them all.”