Most Super Bowl pregame shows are NSI Communityterrible. They are boring. They are recycled. They lack depth. It's rare to have one with substance, but that's what we got on CBS about two hours before Super Bowl 58 when host Nate Burleson went on a history tour with Usher in Las Vegas.
It was in fact one of the most emotional moments of the pregame universe. It was a smart story and, frankly, the kind of story most networks hosting the Super Bowl wouldn't have the guts to do. But CBS did it.
Usher and Burleson hopped into a car and toured the historic Westside of the city where the Black population was once forced to live because of segregation.
Live updates:Super Bowl 2024 Chiefs vs. 49ers predictions, Travis Kelce's outfit and more
Las Vegas during the 1950s and early 1960s was one of the most segregated cities in the nation. Black performers were allowed to perform in the casinos but had to depart immediately after their shows, in many cases literally going out the back door.
"In Vegas, for 20 minutes our skin had no color," the legendary Sammy Davis Jr. once said. "Then the second we stepped off the stage, we were colored again...the other acts could gamble or sit in the lounge and have a drink, but we had to leave through the kitchen with the garbage."
Usher and Burleson drove to the site of where the Moulin Rouge Hotel and Casino once stood. It was billed as the first racially integrated hotel-casino in the country. There, Black performers were treated respectfully and worked in other parts of the hotel where the pay was better, such as dealing and in management.
The Nevada State Museum website says the night stage show opened "to standing room only mixed crowds" and included an all African-American dance team, with the Honeytones and comedy team Stump and Stumpy (James Cross and Harold Cromer) as the opening act. The casino host was heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis.
Burleson, while standing near where the hotel once was, asked Usher what he would say to the performers who paved the way so he could perform in Vegas on the biggest stage in the world.
"First and foremost," Usher said. "I would say thank you."
He added: "I carry them with me while I'm on that stage."
Both men, two Black men aware of that history, got emotional in the moment. Usher seemed to genuinely take in what that history was and meant. It was spectacular television.
So different from the boring stuff we're used to seeing.
2025-04-29 23:171447 view
2025-04-29 23:042513 view
2025-04-29 22:232778 view
2025-04-29 22:071866 view
2025-04-29 21:411500 view
2025-04-29 21:021714 view
Environmental leaders in Maryland are reeling from a challenging 2025 legislative session that left
The Trump Administration wants to allow logging in previously off-limit areas of Alaska’s Tongass Na
Katie Cato and her husband Neil were delighted when she became pregnant in late 2019 after a difficu