“I mean, to put it nicely, it wasn’t my cup of tea, but I gotta respect it,” the Rock said during an appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher. “Here’s why: You know, I grew up loving, emulating hip-hop. All things hip-hop. Breakdancing, DJ-ing, graffiti, rapping. And so I understand the culture a little bit more than most … And when I say ‘most,’ of course, I mean White people.” Rock praised Lamar for coming out “figuratively with both middle fingers in the air, doing what he does for the people who love what he does, unapologetically.” “I don’t think he gives a frog’s fat ass what anyone thinks about it,” he said. “That’s pretty much how I built my whole career. I gotta respect it.” But despite taking home five Grammys for Not Like Us, his scathing diss track aimed at fellow rapper Drake, Rock also wondered aloud how Jay-Z, who produces the halftime show, tapped Lamar to perform at the event. “I’ve heard nobody answer this question: How did he get there?” Rock asked. “How did he get that gig? Jay-Z. What happened there?” Rock went on to call the show the “epitome of DEI.” “This was the epitome of DEI blowing up. Because the NFL was on this DEI, ‘end racism,’ all this stuff. They got Jay-Z. They’re bookin’ this. Kendrick Lamar goes out there and basically turns DEI into an IED,” he said. “It’s like, it’s all Black people, or all people of colour, speaking to his crowd, in the hood, Black people. It was like the most … exclusive thing ever, and I’m like, ‘F— yeah, that’s awesome.’ I’m laughing my ass off.”