Founded by late-conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA announced through social media their Superbowl halftime counterprogramming. After several days of conservative backlash against the NFL´s choice of selecting Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl LX halftime performer.
This counterprogramming from Turning Point USA claims to be the ¨All-American Halftime Show¨ celebrating ¨faith, family and freedom.¨ Turning Point USA anti-transgender conservative activist Riley Gaines wrote on X, “Bad Bunny told Americans they had 4 months to learn Spanish if we wanted to understand the Super Bowl halftime show. No thanks. We’ll just have our own. Enjoy your low-rated halftime show¨.
Despite being one of the biggest American artists worldwide, Bad Bunny has faced controversy from conservatives such as President Trump. ¨I don’t know who he is. I don’t know why they’re doing it- it’s, like, crazy, They blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous¨ (Trump).
Averaging around 79 million monthly listeners on Spotify, Bad Bunny had been Spotify’s most streamed artist for three years in a row. Bad Bunny had also previously made a Superbowl appearance during Jennifer Lopez´s Super Bowl Halftime performance in 2020.
Turning Point USA announced that ¨Performers and event details coming soon¨. Though there have been comments made from Jack Posobiec on the Turning Point USA podcast stating, ¨sure would be a shame if @TPUSA hosted a counter-Superbowl halftime show with Creed.”
Ava Pourkaldani (9) stated, ¨I’m not mad about either halftime show, but I’ll probably just watch them both since I usually just watch the whole game, but i wonder if there will be any fights or serious news stories and stuff that might come out after, since I think that this year’s halftime show will be a little controversial because of past events this year.¨,
When asked which halftime show she would be watching, Viviana Ramirez (9) responded by saying, ¨I´m probably going to watch the Bad Bunny one, because I want to be entertained and I feel like the other halftime show might kill the mood.¨
Many people are upset and question the name choice of ¨All-American Halftime Show¨, because of confusion around Bad Bunny’s American citizenship statues though he was born in Puerto Rico. Though counterprogramming the Superbowl has been done before, the motive and circumstances of the Turning Point USA counterprogramming has been perceived as controversial.