Usher Defends HOT Chemistry With Married Alicia Keys During Halftime Performance!

Usher is weighing in on all the criticism surrounding his steamy Super Bowl duet with Alicia Keys.

If you tuned into the year’s biggest football game earlier this month, you likely stuck around for the halftime show. And that means you probably saw the two pop stars perform a duet of their hit 2004 song My Boo. Of course, Alicia is NOT Usher’s boo, obvi. But you would have never guessed that based on their performance! LOLz!!

In case you missed it, Usher wrapped the No One singer up in a saucy hug from behind all while grinning from ear to ear despite the fact that she’s married to musician Swizz Beatz. Reminisce real quick (below):

Not to mention Usher is now a married man as well! So, what’s his defense here?? Well, on Monday’s episode of The Breakfast Club, the 45-year-old set the record straight. He explained:

“In no way anything that was done there should have been viewed as bad or in any way perverted or anything like that. No. It was literally about having fun because of a song that me and Alicia made many years ago, and we celebrate it because of the legacy of it. And no disrespect to anybody or anything like that.”

Okay, yeah, we can see that. The song is, like, a major cultural phenomenon. Maybe they got wrapped up in the moment! Usher added that since the performance, he, Alicia, and Swizz have all shared a laugh about it. Watch his full interview (below):

The day after the Super Bowl, Swizz came out in defense on Instagram, telling fans that they’re “talking about the wrong damn thing” — and should recognize what an “amazing” performance it was overall.