U2 frontman Bono’s hopes for a mention of the global AIDS crisis during the Super Bowl halftime show were shot down last week. According to an article in Friday’s (January 9) New York Daily News, National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue reportedly rejected the idea, on the grounds that the halftime show was meant for entertainment, and not to promote causes. Bono had been meeting with NFL officials on and off for two years.

In 2003, he and Jennifer Lopez recorded a song he wrote, called “An American Prayer,” which addressed the African AIDS epidemic. He proposed that the two sing the song at the game in Houston on February 1, and secured the approval of MTV executives. MTV is producing this year’s halftime extravaganza.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the News, “We simply decided that we were going to have our halftime show, and we were going to deliver, as we do annually, an extremely entertaining halftime show…we don’t believe it’s appropriate to focus on a single issue.”

McCarthy added that this was a long-held view, and that Tagliabue was not involved in the decision. He said that NFL officials had continued to meet with Bono “out of their great respect for him.”

Bono is scheduled to visit Africa this spring to draw attention to the AIDS crisis. The NFL plans to participate, and send players along with him.

U2 performed a tribute to the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks during the halftime show at the 2002 Super Bowl.

Credit: Launch