Big Boi Says OutKast Turned Down the Super Bowl

Photo by Chris Tuite

Big Boi appeared on today’s episode of ESPN’s “The Dan LeBatard Show”, where he was asked about the most memorable sporting event he ever played. After replying, Big Boi then mentioned that OutKast were once invited to play the Super Bowl halftime show, but they turned down the opportunity because André 3000 wouldn’t agree to perform anything but full songs. Listen to his comments here around the four-minute mark. (Thanks to Bryce Segall for the tip.)

The songs in question were “The Way You Move” and “Hey Ya!”. According to Big Boi, the Super Bowl organizers wouldn’t have given them enough time to do both songs in full. Big Boi said,” [Andre] didn’t want to cut the songs, he wanted to do the full songs. He said, ‘Nah, can’t do it.’”

When asked if Big Boi tried to convince André to change his mind, Big Boi said: “A lot.” He also said they’ve recently laughed about it. “Hopefully they invite us back,” he said.

Big Boi implies that they were asked to play the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. That’s when the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” incident happened during Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson’s performance. So, André’s artistic scruples may have changed the course of history. What could have been?