The internet reacts to the first-ever World Cup Halftime show
The FIFA World Cup final featured the tournament's first-ever halftime show, featuring performances by Shakira, BTS, and Justin Bieber. The event drew mixed reactions from viewers who felt the spectacle clashed with the traditional nature of the sport.
Why it matters
It highlights the ongoing tension between traditional sports culture and the commercialization of major global sporting events.
The FIFA World Cup final between Spain and Argentina is living up to the hype. And to add to the festivities was a fun but odd sight in the world of association football: a halftime show.Soccer is normally a brisk sport, but with this edition of the World Cup being co-hosted in the US (the first World Cup in the US since 1994), it's fallen into the American Sports Entertainment Vortex(tm). Which isn't a bad thing, minus the universal dislike for the hydration breaks, which many commentators have pointed out are glorified commercial breaks for the Fox network.But given the lineup - Shakira, Madonna, BTS, and Justin Bieber, with a Sesame Street cameo and a Ted Lasso intro thrown in for good measure - the World Cup's first-ever halftime show was just fine.
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