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The Super Bowl alternative halftime show hosted by Turning Point USA delivered exactly what it promised: an overwrought, pyrotechnic-heavy interpretation of what right-wingers believe a “real American” event should look like.
The “All-American Halftime Show” — featuring MAGA favorite Kid Rock, and a supporting cast of lesser known conservative musicians (and one vampiric cellist) — ran concurrently to the Super Bowl halftime show, which was headlined by Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny. The show’s main feed on Turning Point USA’s YouTube channel pulled a total of about 16 million views, with about 5 million concurrent users at its peak, a notable feat given that their original platform host, Elon Musk’s X, was spiked due to “licensing issues,” per a post shortly before the game. That number is expected to increase when combined with other feeds hosted by websites like The Daily Wire, but will likely still pale in comparison to the official halftime show, which last year drew a record-breaking 133.5 million viewers.
The All American Halftime Show was heavy on guitars, Americana, and Christian praise, and was bracketed by tributes to Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, who was assassinated in September. At its heart, the whole thing was essentially an angry tantrum over the elevation of a Latino, Spanish speaking, pro-immigration artist — who many conservatives assumed was not an American citizen — to one of the nation’s biggest stages. The “in America we speak English” halftime show, if you will.
Kid Rock — the billed headliner of the event — performed a grand total of two songs at the end of the 30-minute set, one of which wasn’t even his own: “Bawitdaba,” which was noticeably out of step with Kid Rock’s lip syncing, and an acoustic cover of Cody Johnson’s “Til You Can’t,” which he performed under his given name — Robert Ritchie.
In reality, it was the artists billed below Kid Rock who carried most of the event. Country rock singer Brantley Gilbert performed his single “Real American,” an ode to the “heroes overseas and the heroes holding down home.” Country singer Lee Brice performed his new song “Country Nowadays,” which laments that he can’t “tell my own daughter that little boys ain’t little girls,” in this “cancel your ass world.” American Idol breakout star and country music artist Gabby Barrett performed her award-winning songs “The Good Ones,” and “I Hope,” an I-hope-you-suffer-like-I-did power ballad to a guy who has definitely moved on. Funnily enough, a bonus recording of the song features Charlie Puth, who sang the national anthem at the Super Bowl the event was protesting.
Despite the posturing and counter-programming by his critics, Bad Bunny’s performance — which highlighted the ties between all nations of the Americas — was well received by pretty much everyone who hadn’t already made up their mind to dislike it ahead of time. As Grammy-winning country artist Kacey Musgraves put it to her fans on X, Benito put on a show that “made me feel more proudly American than anything Kid Rock has ever done.”
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