Usher has given his take on why Justin Bieber wasn’t a special guest during the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
The R&B crooner stopped by The Breakfast Club on Friday (February 16), where he promised his fans that he’d be collaborating with the pop star in the future, even though he didn’t get a chance to do so at the performance during the big game.
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“It didn’t work out with Justin,” he said. “I honor and recognize that my brother, I think that it might’ve been the fact that he’s just wanting to tell a different story right now. And I understand that.”
After explaining that he believes the “Baby” singer will eventually headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show one day because he “deserves it,” Usher continued: “But, we did have a brief conversation. We’re gonna do something else in the future. No love lost or anything like that. It’s a lot of pressure for the Super Bowl, obviously.”
Usher isn’t the only one who had to explain why Bieber was absent from the Super Bowl Halftime stage.
Talking to TMZ on Wednesday (February 14), Lil Jon explained that taking on a performance of that magnitude is a behemoth of a commitment, and JB — who last year took a step back from live performances and touring after being diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome — just wasn’t up for it.
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“That’s a lot of rehearsal, a lot of responsibility, a lot of time and a lot of eyeballs and I don’t know if he was ready to do all that,” Jon explained. “But he definitely was there supporting Usher and they are really good friends and he definitely was supporting him regardless.”
Per the Mayo Clinic, Ramsay Hunt syndrome occurs when a shingles outbreak affects the facial nerve near one of your ears.
This causes not only a painful rash, but can bring on facial paralysis and hearing loss in the affected ear.
Lil Jon added: “He was thinking about it but I think all of the work that goes into it, and then all of the eyeballs and everything else, I don’t know if he was ready to have that undertaking.
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“You know, because Justin was just kind of chilling. He was there with his wife having a good time. It’s a lot of time you have to dedicate to being in a show like this. It’s not just, ‘Okay, let’s go do one rehearsal’ and you get onstage.”
