Lil Jon has revealed Justin Bieber turned down an appearance during Usher’s Super Bowl Halftime Show because he “wasn’t ready” for the undertaking.
Fans had widely expected Justin to make an appearance alongside his friend and former mentor during the sporting extravaganza on Sunday, but he ended up watching the performance from his seat at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Lil Jon, who performed Yeah! with USHER and Ludacris during the set, revealed to TMZ on Wednesday that Justin was asked to be in the show but he ultimately turned it down.
“We wanted to put Justin in the show, so we had the idea of doing a version of the show with Justin in it,” he said. “But I think Justin just wasn’t really ready. It’s a lot of rehearsal, a lot of responsibility, a lot of time and a lot of eyeballs (on him). I don’t know if he was ready to do all of that, you know what I mean?”
Lil Jon clarified that Justin said no before rehearsals got underway.
“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,” he continued. “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 then you get on stage.’ A lot of time’s dedicated – so I don’t know if he was ready to do all of that.”
Lil Jon added that Justin and USHER are still “really good friends” and the 29-year-old wanted to support Usher in person at the game.
Justin Bieber performed live in public for the first time in two years at the NHL All-Star Weekend earlier this month.
He previously canceled his world tour after being diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which caused partial facial paralysis.
In addition to Lil Jon and Ludacris, USHER was joined on stage by Alicia Keys, Will.i.am, H.E.R. and Jermaine Dupri during the Super Bowl, which was viewed by an average of 123.4 million people, making it the most-watched U.S. TV broadcast since the 1969 moon landing.