Usher hits back at criticism that his Super Bowl performance was ‘perverted’

Usher has hit out at the idea his Super Bowl performance was “perverted”.

The 45-year-old singer has laughed off the reaction to his steamy collaboration with Alicia Keys, 43, at the halftime show as they reunited to perform their 2004 hit My Boo, with people joking that the Girl On Fire hitmaker’s husband, Swizz Beatz, 45, should be concerned.

Usher told The Breakfast Club: “In no way anything done there should have been viewed as bad or in any way perverted or anything like that.”

The Love In This Club singer insisted “no disrespect” was intended and explained the intimate performance was more about “having fun” than anything else.

“No, it was literally about having fun because of a song that me and Alicia made many years ago,” he said.

“We celebrated because of the legacy of it, and [meant] no disrespect to anybody.”

Alicia Keys and Usher perform on stage during the Super Bowl halftime show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo / Getty Images

And Usher revealed he, Keys and Swizz — who have children Egypt Daoud and Genesis Ali, together with the DJ also having three kids from previous relationships — have since shared some jokes about the performance and the number of memes and innuendo after the show.

He said: “Absolutely! We’ve laughed about it ... it’s all love.”

Swizz backed his wife Alicia in the aftermath of the performance, insisting fans were focused on the “wrong damn thing”.

He wrote: “Y’all talking about the wrong damn thing !!! y’all don’t see that amazing dress covering the entire stadium.

“Tonight’s performance was nothing but amazing with 2 amazing Giants ! Congrats @usher and my love @aliciakeys that song is a classic.”

Swizz also told his fans to check out the art exhibit Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.

He continued: “We don’t do negative vibes on this side we make history ... Go see GIANTS at @brooklynmuseum it’s open until July blessings.”