- Kendrick Lamar played the halftime show at Super Bowl 2025
- The performance got headlines for its Drake diss
- Some fans think its featured a secret Squid Game homage
Fans think they’ve spotted a Kendrick Lamar Squid Game mash-up homage hiding in plain sight during the rapper’s halftime Super Bowl 2025 performance.
Lamar’s set featured halfway through yesterday’s match between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. It was the latter who emerged victorious, continuing their winning streak. Spoilers.
Read more: A timeline of Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s beef
In addition to being the first solo rapper to play this coveted spot, Lamar also put his recent spat with Drake front and centre. After playing Squabble Up, HUMBLE., DNA. and Euphoria, he alluded to the track Not Like Us before saying “I want to play their favourite song but you know they like to sue,” referencing his legal battles with the Canadian rapper.
Read more: Squid Game season 3 release date confirmed with first look
Squabbles aside, some are convinced they’ve spotted an Easter Egg within Lamar’s musical appearance. One that pays homage to one of Netflix’s most popular shows.
Kendrick Lamar Squid Game reference at Super Bowl 2025 – is it real?
Over on Reddit, one user suggested that Lamar’s elaborate stage setting may have been a subtle nod to Netflix hit Squid Game.
“Did Kendrick Lamar make a subtle homage to Squid Game?” asked a Redditor.
“And since the underlying theme is humanity is evil and the billionaires use the poor as entertainment. I don’t know if I was over analyzing but that’s what I thought”
Others were quickly convinced.
“I thought this was just a coincidence but now I’m kinda like oh,” said one comment.
“This was my first thought, too!,” said another, with a third adding, “I think so too.”
“This whole thing could be a squid game reference”
Some really thought it through: “The Super Bowl show seemed to be very narrative and in my eyes to delude the message to simply “the beef” is missing the point,” began one in-depth analysis.
“It’s not just a commentary about Drake and OVO, this is for the (black) culture as Kendrick says repeatedly. This is the “US” in “Not like Us.” It is a commentary on blackness in America above all.
“I do think it’s a squid game reference but probably not for the same reason. Squid Games could be an allegory for the American game of persecution that the culture knows very well.
“Kendrick is black. This is black. Kendrick is a black entertainer not only performing for America, but performing for billionaires. People so removed from the “US.” People only looking to be entertained by the song/dance not the message. No one loses their life for this but it just further adds to what he is talking about. In a way this whole thing could be a squid game reference.
“Squid games uses people and their lives as entertainment, just like the Super Bowl, just like Black people and the culture have been used historically by America and guys like Drake.”
Others weren’t as easily convinced.
“More like PlayStation,” said one user – who had a valid point.
When is Squid Game season 3 released?
Squid Game season 3 will hit Netflix on 27 June 2025 and will finish this hugely popular South Korean thriller series.
That said, it’s unlikely that it’ll be the last we see of it.
Rumor has it that Fight Club filmmaker David Fincher is working on an English language spin-off that could bring elements of the same story and its world to America.
At the moment, little is known about the project.
