Reviewing Snoop Dogg's Bizarre Christmas Day Halftime Show on Netflix

Snoop Dogg hosted quite the interesting halftime show during Netflix's Christmas Day matchup between the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings.
Snoop Dogg hosted quite the interesting halftime show during Netflix's Christmas Day matchup between the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings. / Screengrab on Twitter/ @Netflix

After Beyoncé headlined Netflix's first-ever NFL Christmas Day halftime show last year, the streaming service knew it had big shoes to fill. Unfortunately, they seemed to miss the mark with Snoop Dogg in 2025.

In the past, Snoop has killed it in his power duets with Mariah Carey, Wiz Khalifa and others, but this halftime show just felt disjointed and disappointing. Clad in a red fur-trimmed coat evocative of Santa Claus, Snoop kicked things off by performing "The Next Episode" and "Nuthin' But a G Thang," which felt like a solid three-minute start to the halftime show.

Then, things got weird.

Changing gears, Snoop passed the mic to musical guests EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami (the singers from Netflix’s animated film KPOP Demon Hunters) who sang a bass-heavy and sped-up rendition of “12 Days of Christmas” as a sea of ballerinas danced on stage.

The cameras then turned back to Snoop, who stole the limelight with his crowd pleasers, "Drop It Like It's Hot" and "Who Am I (What's My Name)?" before the vibe totally shifted again to another musical guest, Grammy-winning country singer Lainey Wilson.

Wilson arrived in a white suit on a decorative sleigh to perform a rendition of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".... perhaps to indulge any kids watching the show? Here's that family-friendly bit:

As if things couldn't get more bizarre, Italian icon Andrea Bocelli then came on stage and belted his rendition of "White Christmas" to end the set.

In the end, Netflix's halftime show may have been memorable for all the wrong reasons. Not as show-stopping as Queen B's performance last season, and not nearly as iconic as Snoop's Super Bowl LVI halftime show that he co-hosted years ago, this just fell flat and lacked any cohesion, with fans arguably looking forward to more football and less singing by the end of the set. We'd give it a meager 3/5.

Here were NFL fans' very mixed reviews:


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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.