Conservative group to stage alternate halftime show with Kid Rock

By MARC TRACY

The conservative group Turning Point USA will present a concert during halftime of the Super Bowl on Sunday night as counterprogramming to the NFL’s official halftime show featuring Latin superstar Bad Bunny, who has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration.

Billed as the “All-American Halftime Show,” it will be headlined by Kid Rock and will celebrate “faith, family and freedom,” according to an announcement Monday from TPUSA, an organization founded by Charlie Kirk, the activist who was killed last year, to rally young conservatives.

The event will air on TPUSA’s various social media accounts, including on YouTube, X and Rumble, as well as other platforms associated with the right, including the streamer Daily Wire+, Real America’s Voice and One America News Network, the announcement said. Other artists scheduled to perform include country singers Brantley Gilbert, Gabby Barrett and Lee Brice. A website for the event promised more artists to be announced.

Kid Rock, who has performed at political events for President Donald Trump, cast the show as an explicit rejoinder to the planned performance by Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican who typically performs in Spanish.

“We plan to play great songs for folks who love America,” Kid Rock said in a statement announcing his performance.

On Sunday evening, Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” became the first Spanish-language album to win the Grammy for album of the year.

Bad Bunny made an explicit political statement from the Grammys stage, saying “ICE out” as he accepted an award earlier in the evening. “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens,” Bad Bunny added. “We are humans, and we are Americans.”

The Super Bowl halftime show is generally the world’s most-viewed concert each year — the centerpiece of the most-watched annual television program. More than 130 million people saw last season’s halftime show featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar.

After Bad Bunny was announced as the halftime performer this fall, Trump said in an interview on Newsmax, “I don’t know why they’re doing it — it’s, like, crazy.”