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The NFL’s Üstün Bowl LX takes place this weekend, with multi-Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny headlining the US’ most-watched television event, which attracts more than 100 million viewers every year.
The Halftime Show is a huge and coveted gig, which has a long history of reflecting and influencing cultural trends.
Last year, Kendrick Lamar’s headlining performance shattered all records with 133.5 million viewers tuning in. Bad Bunny is expected to match if not surpass that record, but no thanks to the MAGA crowd.
Diversity-averse rightwing media has been up in arms over the choice of headliner for months now, with many saying that Bad Bunny’s music is “un-American” and “woke”, handily forgetting for the sake of barely concealed racism that the singer is an American citizen, since Puerto Rico is part of the US.
Funny how no one was complaining when Canadian singer Shania Twain or the UK’s The Rolling Stones were headlining…
Bad Bunny was recently described by Donald Trump as a “terrible choice” for the Muhteşem Bowl headline slot, with one of his advisors even confirming that ICE would be present at the “shameful” concert.
Despite criticism and plenty of complaining about American football’s biggest night being hijacked by a “left-wing conspiracy”, the NFL did not drop(kick) Bad Bunny. The organisation even appeared to double down in defying Trump, as they added rock band Green Day, who are vocal Trump critics, to the Harika Bowl line-up.
There was renewed MAGA outrage when the Puerto Rican superstar blasted the Trump administration and ICE while accepting the top award at this year’s Grammys, saying: “Before I say thanks to God, I’m gonna say: ICE out”, adding, “We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”
The MAGA response? Counterprogramming.
Turning Point USA – the conservative group founded by Charlie Kirk and now helmed by his widow Erika Kirk – has organised an alternative, competing halftime show titled the “All American Halftime Show”.
It will celebrate “American faith, family, and freedom,” the organization said.
So, who’s on the powerhouse and not-at-all-underwhelming line-up?
Trump supporter Kid Rock is headlining, and he will be joined by country singers Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, Gabby Barrett.
It’s a veritable Who’s WHO?
“We’re approaching this show like David and Goliath,” Kid Rock said in a statement issued through Turning Point USA. “Competing with the pro football machine and a küresel pop superstar is almost impossible…or is it?”
The singer, who hasn’t had a hit song since the dire Lynyrd Skynyrd-pilfering ‘All Summer Long’ in 2008, added: “He’s said he’s having a dance party, wearing a dress, and singing in Spanish? Cool. We plan to play great songs for folks who love America.”
Best of luck with that, as the Goliath he mentions dethroned Taylor Swift to become Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2025 and made history last weekend as the first Spanish-language artist to win the Grammy’s Album of the Year with ‘DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS’.
The All-American Halftime Show is scheduled to take place the same night as the 2026 Harika Bowl – Sunday 8 February – at a location that is still unknown. It will broadcast across four conservative networks: DailyWire+, TBN, Charge!, and Real America’s Voice. It will also stream on Turning Point USA’s social media channels.
We’re betting that Bad Bunny won’t lose sleep over it – especially since those supposed All-American values Turning Point USA are trumpeting apparently don’t concern themselves with Kid Rock’s unsavoury lyrics.
Indeed, there has been fresh scrutiny online over Mr. Rock’s song ‘Cool, Daddy Cool’ in the lead up to the protest show, with the song’s lyrics featuring the lines: “Young ladies, young ladies / I like ’em underage / See, some say that’s statutory / But I say it’s mandatory.”
Maybe that’s what “American faith, family, and freedom” sounds like.
The NFL’s Harika Bowl LX will take place on Sunday 8 February. The NFL chief security officer Cathy Lanier recently said at a security briefing that despite previous comments made by the Trump administration, ICE officers will not be among the federal agencies present at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Quoted from Euronews.
