NEW YORK — Will the Super Bowl “Dare to Be Stupid”?
If an Internet petition has its way, yes.
“Weird Al” Yankovic, the king of the song parody, has been nominated to perform at the next Super Bowl halftime show on a Change.org petition — and close to 60,000 people have signed on their approval as of Thursday morning.
Ed Ball, who created the petition, told The Hollywood Reporter that he was inspired by a suggestion that Justin Bieber headline the extravaganza, which has featured such names as U2, the Rolling Stones, Prince and Beyonce (and, to be fair, Elvis impersonators and Up With People).
“I thought, ‘Man, this is so crappy,’ ” he told the publication.
The time is certainly right for Yankovic, who is riding perhaps the biggest wave of his career. His new album, “Mandatory Fun,” debuted at No. 1, and the series of eight videos he made to promote it — including parodies of “Royals” (“Foil”), “Blurred Lines” (“Word Crimes”) and “Happy” (“Tacky”) — quickly became some of the most-viewed on YouTube.
In the petition, Ball observes that some of the artists parodied could join Yankovic on stage, and the result would be most entertaining.
“The theatrics alone would be hilarious and a welcoming change, and draw a wider audience of fans that typically would not tune into the championship game or half-time show,” he writes.
Next year’s Super Bowl — that would be Super Bowl XLIX, for the Roman numeral-inclined — will be held February 1 in Glendale, Arizona.
Ball told The Hollywood Reporter that Yankovic would be by far the best choice the NFL could make.
“In all honesty, would you rather have Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus perform the Super Bowl or something different?” he said.
The man has a point.
