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Adam Levine: ‘We expected’ backlash over Maroon 5’s Super Bowl halftime gig

Nancy Clanton
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An online petition asking Maroon 5 not to perform during halftime of Super Bowl 53 continues to make its rounds —with nearly 114,000 signatures and counting—on the internet.

The band’s front man, Adam Levine, told “Entertainment Tonight” on Thursday the band expected backlash after the announcement Maroon 5 would headline the Pepsi Halftime Show.

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"I'm not in the right profession if I can't handle a little bit of controversy. It's what it is. We expected it. We'd like to move on from it and speak through the music," he said.

Levine sat down with ET in Atlanta for what the showrunners say will be his “only interview before the big game.”

During the ET interview, Levine said no one thought about the consequences of performing more than he did.

"No one put more thought and love into this than I did," he said in the interview. "I spoke to many people, most importantly though, I silenced all the noise and listened to myself, and made my decision about how I felt."

Levine also addressed those who felt their voices weren’t being heard.

"They will be (heard) — that's all I want to say because I don't want to spoil anything," he said. "And once again, I like to think that people know where I stand as a human being after two decades doing this. I'm not a speaker. I'm not a public speaker. I do speak, but it's through the music. My life's work and what I put out into the universe has been positive and hopefully inspiring ... So, what I would say is, you know, we are going to do what we keep on doing, hopefully without becoming politicians and continuing to use the one voice we know how to use properly."