Samuel L. Jackson may be known as a giant on screen in some of the biggest film franchises of all time, but even Hollywood legends can sometimes miss the message, or at least get it late.
During a recent sit-down on the Mad Sad Bad podcast, Jackson opened up about a moment of realization that hit him late during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show.
The Avengers star admitted that the deeper meaning behind Kendrick’s performance didn’t fully register with him until the final dress rehearsal.
“I didn’t know what they were doing,” Jackson told host Paloma Faith. “It was kinda trippy because it wasn’t until dress rehearsal that when I looked up, and I looked on that stage, and I go, ‘Oh sht, that’s a flag. Ah, fck, we’re being revolutionaries.’ Because I wasn’t listening or paying attention.”
That part. Jackson shouldn’t feel too bad. Some people weren’t even paying attention during the performance. But in fairness, tens of millions supposedly tuned in.
Back to Jackson. His moment of delayed clarity caught some fans off guard, especially considering the cultural weight Kendrick’s performance carried.
It’s a striking contrast to know that Jackson was booked to be part of that spectacle while not fully grasping its message until the eleventh hour.
Still, there’s something real and human about that honesty. And we respect it!
Now, when it comes to REAL activism and knowing the fight, not just a song, and dance in between a lackluster game, Jackson is far from a new jack.
Get this, back in the day, he was living through the real thing. The movement. Jackson walked the walk. He served as a pallbearer at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral. That wasn’t a symbolic role or a cameo. That was a front-row moment in one of the most powerful chapters in American history.
So, we can infer he knew the message back in the 60s, but before the rehearsal of the Super Bowl show he was a part of, he got the memo a bit late.