Dr. Dre

As Super Bowl LVI, scheduled to be played February 13, inches nearer, the rise of COVID infections nationwide could endanger the whole event — which is extra bad news for Dr. Dre, who’s billed to play the heavily anticipated halftime show with his buddies Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and Snoop Dogg. According to TMZ, Dre stands to lose “millions” of dollars if the NFL pulls the plug on the event due to COVID concerns.

Unfortunately, that’s owed to an insurance provision that excludes outbreaks of sickness from policies. The Communicable Disease Exclusion — which dates back to the SARS outbreaks in the early 2000s — exempts insurance from paying out in the event of a cancelation resulting from a similar outbreak of a virus or bacteria. While it looks like the Super Bowl will be played as planned, there is an outside chance that with new variants of COVID circulating, things could go south. For now, the NFL is considering options for alternative venues in the works should the state of California or the city of LA decide to reinstitute lockdowns for safety.

Considering that just a year ago, Dre was hospitalized for a brain aneurysm, the fact that he has a chance to perform at all is miraculous by itself, but I’m sure that he won’t appreciate losing any more money in the wake of his recent contentious divorce.

Earlier this month, an image of Dr. Dre sitting with a big smile on his face in front of balloons with the words “Divorced AF” hit the internet. The photo was posted by music executive Breyon Prescott, who captioned it, “Hey Well My Brother @drdre Just Told Me It’s Final.” He posted it after a report from TMZ revealed that Dre and his ex-wife Nicole Young’s divorce settlement had ended with him paying her a lump sum of $2 million and an additional $500,000 to cover her attorney fees. Now, new reports from Rolling Stone and TMZ reveal that Dre will have to dish out a lot more money.

Dre has now agreed to pay Nicole a total of $100 million — $50 million now and the remaining half a year from now — which is a sizable cut from his $828 million net worth. The former couple’s prenup barred Nicole from receiving half of Dre’s net worth. However, in addition to the $100 million that Dre will pay her, Nicole keeps four out of the 10 vehicles the couple owned, as well as jewelry, cash, and bank accounts that she maintained during their marriage. Lastly, there are storage lockers filled with items that Dre put in there from their various homes. The settlement says Nicole can keep all of the items in the storage lockers that belong to her.

As for Dre himself, he keeps seven of the properties they own, including a Malibu home, two homes in Calabasas, and four properties in the L.A. area, which includes a $100 million Brentwood estate. He also retains his master recordings, trademarks, interests in various partnerships and trusts, as well as their Apple stocks, which includes proceeds from his Beats By Dre deal.

Sources connected to the former couple say that Nicole could have received an even larger amount from Dre if she had settled a year ago. “She could have even been on the field for the Super Bowl halftime show as a friendly ex-wife,” a source told TMZ.