Usher Says He Shouldn’t Have Smacked Nicki Minaj’s Butt During Performance And Claims Alicia Keys’ Halftime Hug Was Simply Innocent

In a new episode of The @BreakfastClub, Usher talks about his controversial performances from the past and his most recent one.

If you have been on social media in recent days then you probably came across the super old clip of Usher performing alongside Nicki Minaj. In the resurfaced clip, Nicki is seen holding a microphone as Usher plays the bass. He then kneels down and proceeds to repeatedly bump his shoulder and head onto Nicki’s glamorous glutes. He finished off the stunt with a smack. The hilarious video continued with Nicki giving Usher a little side-eye. However, Usher just continued to perform as if nothing ever happened.

While speaking on the radio show, Usher explained that it’s “Jamaican culture” to be that extra when dancing or performing but admitted he may have gone a little too far with the butt-smacking. Still, he had no regrets for the smooth grind and hug he planted on Alicia Keys during his Super Bowl halftime show. Here’s how he reacted to all the online commotion:

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More On What Happened During Halftime Show:

As we previously reported, Keys joined Usher as a special guest during his Super Bowl LVIII halftime show earlier this month..

Into their set, Keys appeared at a red piano and began singing “If I Ain’t Got You” solo — weathering through a voice crack in the process — she was joined by Usher to finish the song as a duet. Keys then stood up from the piano, and the pair sang “My Boo,” with usher embracing her with a tight hug from being to conclude the joint performance.

Of course social media had a field day with that and even promoted Swizz Beat to speak out. He said, “Y’all talking about the wrong damn thing !!! y’all don’t see that amazing dress covering the entire stadium,” wrote the record producer, 45. “Tonight’s performance was nothing but amazing with 2 amazing Giants ! Congrats @usher and my love @aliciakeys that song is a classic. “We don’t do negative vibes on this side we make history.”

Despite what some may think, overall many would agree that it was an epic performance. Usher previously spoke about how important this meant for him:

“I’m a 45-year-old artist who has found my way into an incredible moment as a result of belief in myself and the fact that I didn’t let anything deter it, no matter what it looked like, no matter what the comparison to previous albums were. I didn’t care about none of that. I was like, ‘I believe in making quality and quality performance matters. I want to go to Las Vegas where I can spread my wings and be creative and do things the way I want to do them; not just wait for a successful album in hopes that I’m going to be able to put together a tour and travel the world.’” Adding, “the crescendo of that is the fucking Super Bowl. Man, I’m so happy and blessed.”

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