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DJ Akademiks claimed the NFL is taking legal action against him for allegedly leaking Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime setlist. Lamar headlined the show on February 9 at the Caesars Superdome, with SZA as a guest performer.
On February 10, DJ Akademiks went live on Instagram and said that the NFL allegedly tried to threaten him.
"The NFL hit me, heck, we're going to sue you. Well, do then," he said on Instagram Live. "They sent me an email this morning. They said,"Don't mention the tracklist." That's coz, apparently, when we leaked it, they got paranoid."
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The social media personality, who currently boasts over five million followers on Instagram continued:
"You know what I did? I went live on Rumble—shoutout to Rumble—I went live on Twitter, and I leaked that b*tch."
Prior to the Instagram live, DJ Akademiks apologized to Kendrick Lamar for leaking his setlist on Instagram. He wrote:
"Sorry Kendrick that I leaked ur performance. I apologize. U did ya thing tho."
The podcaster went on to share another statement that reads:
"I leaked Kendrick Super Bowl performance hoping he would change it.. he ain't do it.. he doubled down. I'm wat the culture was feeling.. I tried to save yall from that…"
Samuel L. Jackson introduced Kendrick Lamar during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show. K Dot performed for almost 15 minutes and sang all his marquee songs, including Not Like Us and most of his singles from his latest album GNX.
An audio clip from Kendrick Lamar's performance at the Super Bowl LIX was leaked days before the performance
On February 6, 2025, a 12-minute audio clip from Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX performance reportedly started trending on social media platforms. The clip was also shared through DJ Akademiks' official X handle.
In a tweet on February 7, DJ Akademiks wrote:
"Kendrick Lamar's full Super Bowl halftime show audio that was leaked online days before his event has been DMCA copyrighted by his label Interscope. looks like the audio was real."
However, Kendrick Lamar's company, Interscope Records, soon removed it because of DMCA copyright infringement.
For the unversed, the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) was executed to update the copyright laws in the United States. First passed in 1998, prohibits the bypassing of Digital Rights Management (DRM) or any system built to gain access to copyrighted materials.
A day after the audio clip went viral, Akademiks TV shared a screenshot with the message that the clip would be completely removed from the platform. It continued, stating:
"Please note that the original content will be replaced with a notice stating your post is no longer available because it violated the X Rules."
Kendrick Lamar was one of the most successful hip-hop artists in 2024, creating chart-topping hits like Not Like Us and dropping his sixth studio album GNX after two years. The Compton rapper won five Grammys for Not Like Us in categories like Best Rap Song, Best Music Video, Best Rap Performance, Record of the year, and Song of the Year.
In April 2025, Lamar and SZA will go on the Grand National Tour to promote Lamar's GNX album.
