Justin Timberlake is performing at the Super Bowl on Sunday, but he doesn’t appear to be ready to let his son take the field anytime soon.
During a news conference here Thursday afternoon, Timberlake, who is singing at the Super Bowl halftime show for the third time, was generally lighthearted, fielding questions about his love for Tom Brady and being serenaded by a reporter with “Happy Birthday” (he turned 37 on Wednesday).
After he jokingly offered to step in to play for the New England Patriots if they needed him, Timberlake was asked if he would support his 2-year-old son, Silas, in “running some routes in the NFL.”
“Uh, he will never play football,” said Timberlake, who is married to the actress Jessica Biel.
He smiled and added, “No, I mean, my main objective is that he become a great person. And if he wants to get into the arts or sports, yeah, I would fully support that.”
Timberlake, joking or not, isn’t the only celebrity to proclaim that his children won’t play football. While rapper Snoop Dogg and singer Jon Bon Jovi are among the famous parents whose children played college football, Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, has said that he would not want his son to play. And in 2013, President Barack Obama told The New Yorker that if he had a son, he wouldn’t want his son to play, either.
Participation numbers in youth tackle football has been on the decline for years, and some state officials have introduced bills that would prohibit tackle football. A study done last year by Boston University showed that children who began playing tackle football before age 12 had more cognitive problems later in life than those who started after turning 12.
Timberlake is returning to the Super Bowl stage 14 years after he infamously ripped off a piece of Janet Jackson’s clothing, exposing her nipple onstage. He also appeared with ‘N Sync at the halftime show in 2001, but he and other members of the group have denied that Sunday’s performance will feature a reunion.
As for his son, there are more pressing matters at the moment than determining his career path. “Right now we are just working on our manners,” Timberlake said. “That’s a big deal in our house. It’s like, one thing at a time.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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