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The slain Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA plans to counter-program the Bad Bunny halftime performance during Super Bowl LX.
The conservative advocacy group announced “The All-American Halftime Show” on X/Twitter on Thursday, “celebrating faith, family and freedom.” Turning Point did not list any musical artists who will perform on Feb. 8 as NBC Sports telecasts the Big Game. The group said artists will be announced at a later date.
The NFL’s announcement of the Puerto Rican superstar as halftime show headliner at Levi’s Stadium has sparked a backlash among President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.
The Latin rapper has ripped Trump’s strict immigration enforcement policies. The three-time Grammy winner skipped mainland U.S. cities during his recent tour out of fear his fans would be arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Instead, he performed a 31-show residency in his native Puerto Rico.
While admitting he had never heard of Bad Bunny, Trump called the selection “ridiculous” and “crazy” this week. Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House, called it a “terrible decision,” suggesting Bad Bunny be replaced by Lee Greenwood, the 82-year-old country singer best known for the Ronald Reagan–era ballad, “God Bless the U.S.A.”
Supporters such as Jennifer Lopez have hailed the Bad Bunny selection as a brilliant play by the NFL as the league courts Latinos and a younger, more global audience. Bad Bunny, who sings many of his songs in Spanish, previously performed at the 2020 Super Bowl with Lopez and Shakira. “I think it’s wonderful people will get exposed to him who don’t know him,” Lopez told Gayle King on CBS Mornings. “Just give it a chance!”
Now, Turning Point is launching its “All-American” show, disregarding the fact that Bad Bunny is an American citizen from the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. The website created for the show gives users the option to submit feedback on which genres of music they would like to hear at the concert. “Anything in English,” read the first selection.
OutKick’s Riley Gaines, known for campaigning to keep trans athletes out of women’s sports, shared Turning Point’s announcement on social media. “Bad Bunny told Americans they had 4 months to learn Spanish if we wanted to understand the Super Bowl halftime show,” Gaines wrote, referring to the singer’s recent Saturday Night Live monologue. “No thanks. We’ll just have our own. Enjoy your low-rated halftime show.”
If the Bad Bunny backlash continues, the NFL, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, and Apple Music could pivot by adding more MAGA-friendly artists such as Greenwood, Kid Rock, or Creed at halftime or to sing the U.S. national anthem. But the league might need to get the green light from Jay-Z, who handles production for the halftime show.
Greenwood told the New York Post he’s ready and willing to replace Bad Bunny during the Big Game. “Maybe the NFL will have me perform this year at the Super Bowl prior to the game to have a stadium full of football fans singing ‘God Bless The U.S.A.’ to kick-off the game!” Greenwood told the Post.
This year’s Apple Music Super Bowl halftime show starring Kendrick Lamar averaged 133.5 million viewers on Fox Sports. That was bigger than the Super Bowl itself, which averaged 127.7 million viewers.
The strategy of counter-programming the Super Bowl halftime show has been tried before with mixed results. Before it landed the NFC package in 1993, Fox aired a version of its In Living Color comedy against the halftime show in 1992. WWE aired several versions of Halftime Heat against the halftime show. The first in 1999 showed Mankind beating The Rock for the championship. Then in 2004, the Lingerie Bowl aired as a pay-per-view alternative to the NFL’s show.
The Puppy Bowl counters the Super Bowl annually. But that show airs hours before the game itself, so it’s running against pregame programming. The bottom line: Most networks worth their salt want to be in business with the NFL. So they’re reluctant to challenge The Shield during its marquee event.
The 31-year-old Kirk was shot and killed at an event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. Tyler Robinson, his accused assassin, could face the death penalty. The NFL released a statement and held a moment of silence for Kirk at the first game following the incident. “The NFL condemns all violence in our communities, it will take all of us to stop hate,” echoed the league’s statement through Lambeau Field. The league left it up to individual teams whether they wanted to hold moments of silence at their games that weekend, and several teams did, including the Chiefs, Jets, Titans, Steelers, Cowboys, Dolphins, Cardinals, and Saints.
The NFL and Turning Point could not be reached for comment.
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