Kid Rock is headlining Turning Point USA’s “All American Halftime Show” this weekend, an alternative to the official Super Bowl Halftime Show headlined by Bad Bunny, the organization announced this week.
Bad Bunny (the stage name for Puerto Rican Latin rap icon Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) was selected as the halftime show performer last year. After the announcement, there was backlash from conservatives, including President Donald Trump who claimed he had “never heard” of the musician.
TPUSA was founded by the late Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist who was close with Trump’s inner circle, including Vice President JD Vance before he was assassinated last September. Shortly after the Bad Bunny announcement, TPUSA said it would produce its own halftime show.
Country musicians Brantley Gilbert, Gabby Barrett and Lee Brice join Kid Rock in the TPUSA “All American Halftime Show” lineup. It will air on Daily Wire, Real America’s Voice, TBN, Charge, National News Desk, NTD and OAN News and on TPSUA’s social media channels.
“Fantastic lineup for the TPUSA halftime show, including the great Bob Ritchie AKA KID ROCK,” said Vance this week on X.
Shawn “Jay Z” Carter – owner of Roc Nation, the company that has produced the Super Bowl Halftime performances since 2019 – praised Bad Bunny in the halftime announcement last year.
“What Benito has done and continues to do for Puerto Rico is truly inspiring. We are honored to have him on the world’s biggest stage,” Carter said.
He’s also known for being critic of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdowns. Over the weekend, Bad Bunny won multiple Grammy awards, including Album of the Year and Best Música Urbana Album for his album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. During his speech for the latter, he denounced ICE.
“Before I say thanks to God, I’m gonna say… ICE out,” Bad Bunny said. “We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens, we are humans and we are Americans.”
Puerto Ricans like Bad Bunny are U.S. citizens. However, they have limited voting rights.
ICE crackdowns have made headlines this year due to the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents In Minneapolis, Minn. Other incidents such as the detention of a 5-year-old boy have also resulted in backlash to the enforcements.
“The hate gets more powerful with more hate,” Bad Bunny said in his speech. “The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So, please, we need to be different. If we fight, we need to do it with love. We don’t hate them. We love our people, we love our family and that’s the way to do it, with love.”
“I think it’s very ironic, and frankly sad, to see celebrities who live in gated communities with private security, with millions of dollars to spend protecting themselves to demonize, again, law enforcement, public servants,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt of the speech. Forbes noted that Bad Bunny’s homes “do not appear to be in gated communities.”
Previously, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said ICE will be present at Bad Bunny’s halftime show performance.
“We’ll be all over that place,” she told podcaster benny Johnson. “We are going to enforce the law. You shouldn’t be coming to the Super Bowl unless you are a law-abiding American citizen,” and she also added that she thinks “the NFL sucks and we’ll win.”
Pop punk band Green Day will join Bad Bunny for the official halftime show at levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. They have also criticized the Trump administration and the Make America Great Movement, changing the lyrics of their hit song “American Idiot” to include “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda,” in a live performance.
“I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible,” Trump said of Bad Bunny and Green Day in an interview with the New York Post. He said he won’t be watching the show.
Last year brought the highest ever audience for a halftime show, with 133.5 million tuning in to see Kendrick Lamar’s performance, according to Billboard. Lamar “appeared to take a patriotic swipe,” at Trump during the show, which aired right after the president took office. Trump reportedly left his box at the Caesars Superdome shortly before Lamar’s show ended.
More than 20 years ago, Kid Rock – a friend of Trump’s – was a headliner of the official Super Bowl halftime show himself. During that 2004 performance, he reportedly angered the Veterans of Foreign War organization for wearing a poncho made out of a slit American flag and tossing the flag into the crowd.
Edward Banas Senior, VFW commander-in-chief at the time, said the outfit was “in poor taste and extremely disrespectful,” and CBS faced a Federal Communications Commission investigation after the incident.
According to polling data released Tuesday by YouGov, half of Americans say they will either definitely (28%) or probably (23%) watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. This year, it’s between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.
YouGov’s polling also found that 28% of Americans say they are very or somewhat satisfied with Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime performer, and the same share (28%) are dissatisfied. Most (34%) don’t care.
“Younger Americans, Black and Hispanic Americans, and Democrats are more likely to say they're satisfied with Bad Bunny, while Americans who are older, white, or Republican are more likely to be dissatisfied,” YouGov said.