Football Game or Country Concert? Walker Hayes’ Halftime Show Drowns Out Commentators

The AFC Championship between NFL teams the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals included the halftime performance of country singer Walker Hayes. The singer performed a smattering of his hits, including “Fancy Like” and “AA,” and ultimately crashed the CBS halftime conversation.

The CBS audio was either not adjusted for the performance or experienced an audio malfunction, but either way, commentators James Brown, Nate Burleson, Phil Simms, Boomer Esiason, and Bill Cowher could not hear each other over Hayes’ country concert.

“I have no idea what you just said,” Esiason candidly told his colleagues. Hayes’ music overpowered the scene to the point where no one could hear the CBS broadcasters, including the broadcasters.

Fans and viewers responded to the mishap with amusement, joking about the volume on social media. “[W]hat do we think is the most interesting comment made during the halftime show we couldn’t hear?” one user wrote on Twitter. Hayes himself reacted to the Barstool Sports tweet that dubbed the show the [l]oudest halftime show in history.”

“@CBSSports thanks for having me” Hayes responded to the tweet with three crying laughing emojis.

Hayes also commented on his Sunday night performance to The Associated Press. “As a massive sports fan I was so jacked to perform halftime at the game, I just couldn’t wait to get in the stadium,” Hayes said in the statement. “We didn’t think our performance would be broadcast—so to see what’s happened, I mean, you can’t make this up! I guess we made broadcast after all!

“Sorry guys, next time we won’t turn it up to 11!”

Hayes’ performance at Arrowhead Stadium comes after the artist released his latest 13-track album, Country Stuff, early last year. Check out more tour dates to see the “Fancy Like” singer in action HERE.

Play video

Photo by Robert Chavers/ Ebie Media.