Lil Wayne finally broke his silence on not being selected to perform at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans, a week after the NFL revealed Kendrick Lamar as the headliner. Taking to Instagram on Friday (Sept. 13), the “A Milli” hitmaker opened up about why it took him so long to address the news amid his collaborators — Nicki Minaj, Birdman, and Juvenile, to name a few — voicing their outrage.

“First of all, I want to say forgive me for the delay. I had to get [enough strength] to do this without breaking. I’ma say thank you to every voice, every opinion, all the care, all love and support out there. Your words turned into arms and held me up when I tried to fall back,” Wayne began.

“That hurt. It hurt a lot. You know what I’m talking about. It hurt a whole lot,” he eventually admitted. “I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown, and for automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position. So I blame myself for that. But I thought that [there] was nothing better than that spot, and that stage, and that platform in my city, so it hurt. It hurt a whole lot.”

Wayne hasn’t been shy about his Super Bowl ambitions, with a February interview on the “4HUNNID Podcast” making rounds again during all the recent talk. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” the Young Money artist told YG, who he previously collaborated with on “My N**ga (Remix).”

While Minaj clearly didn’t hold back in her Twitter rant on Monday (Sept. 9), Wayne opted out of name-dropping anyone involved in setting up the Super Bowl halftime show.

Fortunately, for the fans who really want to see Wayne perform in New Orleans, his Lil’ Weezyana Fest is slated to take place on Nov. 2 at the Smoothie King Center. The No Ceilings creator will be reuniting with Hot Boys in addition to bringing out Rob49 and Mannie Fresh.