Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Maroon 5 Will Be The Most Jewish Superbowl Halftime Show Ever

Alright Jews, huddle.

Now listen up: I’m only gonna say this once.

We’re fixing to have the single most Jewish Superbowl halftime show ever. Ever.

Our boy Adam Levine and his band Maroon 5 were tapped to perform at Superbowl LIII, and that’s big. It means we have to rally. We have to stand by our man.

I know some of you don’t like Maroon 5. Maybe you think their songs are saccharine, over-autotuned derivatives of the great rock that once was. Frankly, I don’t care.

You think the history of Superbowl halftime shows reads like a list of campers at Ramah Nyack? Well, it doesn’t. Eleh toldot Jewish Superbowl performers: Carole Channing, who performed in 1972 called herself “part-Jewish.” No other Jew headlined the show until George Burns in 1987. 10 freakin’ years later, John Goodman played…as part of the Blues Brothers. Bruno Mars has played twice, but he barely identifies as Jewish. Mark Ronson (2016) performed, if you can call his work performing. That leaves Lenny Kravitz, who played in 2015, holding down the reputation of the entire tribe, and guess what? They only let him perform one song. He shared a duet with Katy Perry on “I Kissed A Girl.”

Come on, fam. We don’t sing 10,000 words every 7th sundown to miss out on the musical opportunity of a lifetime. Maroon 5 is performing at Superbowl LIII in 2019, and we will be there supporting them.

Well, the important thing is to be superlative.

We don’t have room to be picky here. Our little Ashkenazi boychik — our evidently Semitic kosher songbird has been asked to lead the nation in song. And they WILL be loved. They WILL be loved (oh, oh, oh.)

On Sunday morning rain may be falling, but on Sunday afternoon the sky will be clear, Levine and the boys will have taken the stage, and we’ll be right behind them.

See you at the Superbowl.

Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.