Turning Point USA has followed through on its promise (threat?) to counter-program Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show with a concert of its own and the most unsurprising headliner imaginable: Kid Rock.
Along with Kid Rock, the so-called “All-American Halftime Show” will feature a trio of country performers, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett. Gilbert is best known for his string of mid-2010s hits like “Bottoms Up” and “Country Must Be Wide”; Brice was active around the same time with songs like “Rumor,” “I Don’t Dance,” and “One of them Girls”; and Gilbert broke through a few years ago with her singles “I Hope” and “The Good Ones.”
In a statement shared with Fox News, Kid Rock — a longtime Donald Trump booster — sounded extremely confident about the gig, saying, “We’re approaching this show like David and Goliath. Competing with the pro football machine and a global pop superstar is almost impossible … or is it?”
The TPUSA gig is set to air around 8 p.m. ET on Feb. 8. If you’d rather watch Kid Rock and Brantley Gilbert than the global superstar who just won Album of the Year at the Grammys, you can tune in on TPUSA’s social channels or a variety of conservative streaming channels like Real America’s Voice or TBN.
Turning Point USA (the non-profit founded by the late Charlie Kirk) first floated its halftime show alternative not long after Bad Bunny was confirmed as the Super Bowl headliner. The counter-programming was part of a larger conservative backlash to the Puerto Rican superstar’s selection, with right-winters at once livid about Bad Bunny’s opposition to ICE and President Trump’s immigration crackdown, as well as the fact that he sings in Spanish.
The conservative backlash has (unsurprisingly) gone all the way to the White House. In a recent interview, Trump criticized not only Bad Bunny, but Green Day, who are playing a pregame concert. “I’m anti-them,” the president said of the artists. “I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.”
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The Trump admin has also threatened to send ICE to the Super Bowl, which is taking place in Santa Clara, outside of San Francisco. While it’s still unclear if agents will actually be on the ground, Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor recently told Rolling Stone about how that specter is hanging over the city.
“We should be celebrating that we are hosting one of the largest, if not the largest, event on the planet,” she said. “Instead, we’re talking about the installation of fear in our community. It’s brought real fear.”
