Ethan Hawke Has Perfect Reaction to Rihanna's Super Bowl Halftime Show

Marvel's Moon Knight star Ethan Hawke saw Rihanna's Halftime Show performance at the 2023 Super Bowl, and came away with the perfect reaction to it! 

In an Instagram post, Hawke poked fun at himself by digging up the infamous 2015 photo gallery of himself trying to chat up Rihanna while taking his son Levon Roan Thurman-Hawke (then 13, now 21) to a courtside NBA game – only to have Bad Girl Riri looking at him like she wasn't going for it, and his son facepalming in embarrassment. The photos went viral, and have since been recycled again and again at Hawke's expense. 

One of the best examples is a Father's Day post from 2022 by Ethan Hawke's daughter Maya Hawke. The Stranger Things starlet shared a tweet from a user who had reposted the photos of Hawke taking his shot at Rihanna, with the caption "Happy Father's Day specifically to Ethan Hawke making his son switch seats with him so he could get at Rihanna." Maya Hawke posted the tweet as an Instagram story, with her own caption: "Happy Father's Day dad". 

Now that Rihanna just made worldwide headlines for putting up enormous viewership numbers during her halftime performance, Ethan Hawke thought it was time to write his son a formal apology – which also doubles nicely as a bit of self-justification, and arguably triples as a nice hat tip to Rihanna. It's the first time the actor has really publicly addressed the situation, which is an impressive run, to say the least. 

"After Rihanna's brilliant halftime performance, I'm hoping my son can find it in his heart to forgive a Dad for taking his moment."

Ethan Hawke's post does do a backhanded job of flattering Rihanna – kind of an awkward time to do so. Rihanna's Super Bowl performance also served as an announcement that she's also pregnant with her second child with rapper A$AP Rocky. It would seem she is very much off the market. 

How Many People Watched Rihanna's Super Bowl Performance? 

As we previously reported, Super Bowl LVII's ratings were very strong – including Rihanna's Halftime Show performance. According to TVLine, 113 million viewers tuned into the Super Bowl game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles – the highest Super Bowl viewership 2017. That is the third-most-watched Super Bowl in history.

Rihanna's Halftime Show actually spiked viewership numbers for the Super Bowl, with over 118 million people tuning into the popstar's performance, the second most-watched halftime show after Katy Perry's performance in 2015, which was also the most-wastched Superbowl of all time (between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks).