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FACT CHECK: The Shocking Real Reason NBC Cut Short & Skipped Lil Jon’s Bengals vs. Ravens Thanksgiving Halftime Show – Fans in Uproar

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This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.

Grammy Award winner Lil Jon performs at half time
Grammy Award winner Lil Jon performs at halftime (Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images)

Many fans are asking what happened to Lil Jon’s set during the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Baltimore Ravens Thanksgiving halftime show.

The 2025 NFL Thanksgiving Games featured a star-packed halftime lineup with Jack White, Post Malone, and Lil Jon headlining across all three contests on Thursday.

Post Malone performed at halftime of Thursday’s Thanksgiving game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys and was even seen sporting a special tribute to late defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, who tragically took his own life earlier this month.

Jack White had time ot bring out Eminem for his performance.

Something was very different from how they were portrayed compared to how Jon was portrayed in the late game.

Jon closed out the NFL’s slate of Thanksgiving halftime entertainment by performing at Thursday night’s Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals game. However, viewers at home watching the game were only able to catch a handful of seconds of the 54-year-old rapper’s performance.

NBC opted to show just a snippet of his 2013 hit ‘Turn Down For What’ before they suddenly cut away.

Earlier that day, Jon performed at the 99th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which he said he would modify to include clean lyrics, according to TMZ.

Social Media Erupted On NBC For How They Treated Lil Jon

Nov 27, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Grammy Award winner Lil Jon performs at half time at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

Lil Jon closed out the NFL’s slate of Thanksgiving halftime entertainment by performing at Thursday night’s Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals game, but only received literal seconds of airtime before NBC cut him off from viewers.

Rather than letting it play out, the network opted to show a feature about John Madden’s coaching legacy.

Fans were not happy.

“Why can’t we see the Lil Jon performance, but we had to suffer through Post Malone?” one fan asked.

“Pretty weak of the @NFL to show both the Jack White and Post Malone halftimes in full, but only a 10-second clip of the Lil Jon halftime show,” a second fan wrote.

“The NFL is hilarious, they show 30 seconds of Lil John performing but 8 minutes of every white artist that performed today,” a third fan stated.

“I know I did not just stay awake after a food coma to watch Lil Jon’s halftime show just for NBC to show literally SECONDS of it?????????” a fourth person commented.

The 54-year-old legend became a major voice of the 2000s crunk era as part of The East Side Boyz. He defined the era alongside artists like Usher and Ludacris.

His party anthems have tested the length of time and have made him a legend to a new generation of people who were not around during his heyday.

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