Samuel L. Jackson says he wasn’t fully aware of just how “revolutionary” Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX performance in New Orleans was intended to be until dress rehearsal.
In an interview with Paloma Faith for the singer and actress’ Mad Sad Bad podcast this week, the beloved actor spoke at length about how his life has routinely landed him in situations in which he’s called to serve as “an agent of change,” with this year’s Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show merely one of several examples of this in action. In the performance, Jackson dressed in custom Bode to portray a satirical version of the mythical Uncle Sam.
“Now, see, I didn’t know that’s what they were doing,” Jackson said in the interview, billed as the actor’s “first-ever podcast appearance” and also his last. “It was kind of trippy because when we were rehearsing, you know, we just had our clothes on. … It wasn’t until dress rehearsal that I looked up on that stage and I go, ‘Oh shit, that’s a flag. … We’re being revolutionary.’”
Zooming out a bit, Jackson linked this realization to previous moments in his life, crediting his persona with bringing about such influential opportunities.
“Something about me or my persona has put me in the right place at the right time in a change of the zeitgeist, in a way, in a lot of different moments in my life,” he said. “I have to accept that that’s what I’m meant to be sometimes, an agent of change whether I know it or not, and to be proud of it and to know that God has placed me in a place that I can be influential in a real and positive [way].”
Jackson added that he’s always aimed to be on the “right side of history,” with the Kendrick recruitment allowing him to continue doing so.
“I realized you’re being put in this place for a reason and you’re being dressed this way for a reason and you are a part of change,” he said of the “so important and so short” Super Bowl performance.. “This is an awesome moment of change for people sitting there watching a game or people who don’t turn on until halftime because all they want to see is halftime.”
Zooming out again, Jackson called on others to view themselves as part of “a herd” as humans, meaning we should each feel a sense of responsibility for one another, regardless of how unpopular that sentiment may feel at the current moment.
See more from Jackson and Faith below.
This week, Deadline reported that Jackson will soon be leading a spinoff of the Sylvester Stallone-starring Tulsa King. The series, tentatively titled NOLA King, will be preceded by several Jackson appearances in the original Paramount+ series from the mind of Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan.
