Will.I.Am Uses Superbowl Halftime Show To Ask Obama To Further Education

These days it seems President Obama can’t even get through an apolitical football game without someone bossing him around to do something or another. Despite being a unique game in many ways, this Super Bowl was no different, as the Black-Eyed Peas’ Will.I.Am took poetic license to demand of the President to “get these kids educated!” in the middle of “Where is the Love?”

The interjection came in the middle of Will.I.Am’s section of the song, where, instead of the usual line, he cried out, “Obama, let’s get these kids educated!” Compared to the rest of the songs performed (“I’ve Got a Feeling,” “Boom Boom Pow,” etc), it was relatively the appropriate song to insert a political demand in (the video is full of political imagery, including a questionable cameo appearance by Che Guevara). And Will.I.Am is no stranger to politics, nor to President Obama, having contributed the vastly-watched “Yes We Can” music video in 2008 and made history as CNN’s first hologram. Yet one must wonder how many people watching the Super Bowl really want to be reminded of politics, of all things, and how appropriate such political statements are in a venue meant to unite Americans and allow them at least a few hours vacation from the nation’s vicious political news cycle.

What’s more, the type of people who care about the Super Bowl Halftime Show are notoriously finicky about anything remotely off-color (think Janet Jackson‘s “wardrobe malfunction”) and not afraid to be vocal about it. It’s hard to imagine the FCC will get calls about this, but it is also not difficult to see how alienating political talk could leave some watching the show with a bitter taste in their mouths.

On a separate note, there was also an Obama shout-out false alarm during Usher‘s performance, though he was actually saying “Oh my God.”

Will.I.Am’s shoutout via Fox Broadcasting below: