Turning Point USA announces ‘All American’ Super Bowl halftime show in protest of Bad Bunny performance

The conservative organization co-founded by Charlie Kirk has not announced performers or specific details about the show.

Turning Point USA, the organization co-founded by Charlie Kirk, announced Thursday it will host “The All American Halftime Show” as counterprogramming to Bad Bunny’s headlining performance at the 2026 Super Bowl, capitalizing on conservative backlash over the NFL’s selection of the Puerto Rican superstar and his Spanish-language music.

Turning Point USA has not yet announced performers or specific details about its alternative event. It’s unclear where the show will take place or how it will be broadcast to fans. A survey asks supporters what music genre they’d like to see featured, with “Anything in English” as the first option. 

The organization’s counterprogramming effort comes less than a month after Kirk’s death, which sparked national conversations about political violence in an increasingly polarized America. A suspect was arrested following a two-day manhunt after the shooting. His widow, Erika Kirk, has taken over as CEO of Turning Point USA.

The announcement reflects conservative outrage over the NFL’s choice of Bad Bunny, who previously skipped shows in the continental U.S. and criticized the Trump administration ramping up immigration enforcement. The artist, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has faced sustained criticism from conservatives, particularly after he spoke out against Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election. 

President Donald Trump said the pick was “absolutely ridiculous” and that he’d “never heard of him.” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called it “a terrible decision” and said country artist Lee Greenwood would have been a better choice that attracted “a broader audience.” Greenwood has about 500,000 monthly listeners on Spotify compared to Bad Bunny’s 80 million. 

According to Luminate, an industry data and analytics company, Bad Bunny saw a 26% increase in on-demand streams in the United States following the Sept. 28 announcement, soaring from 173 million nine days before the announcement to 218.5 million streams in the eight days that followed.

Bad Bunny, a three-time Grammy Award and 12-time Latin Grammy winner, has emerged as one of the most popular recording artists globally. The reggaeton and Latin trap artist was Spotify’s most-streamed artist worldwide for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022 and has amassed billions of streams on the platform. His 2022 album “Un Verano Sin Ti” became the first all-Spanish-language album to be nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. His concerts routinely sell out stadiums worldwide, and his music videos regularly accumulate hundreds of millions of views.

Hosting the “Saturday Night Live” Season 51 premiere, the Latin superstar joked in his monologue about the conservative backlash to the Super Bowl announcement and, speaking in Spanish, thanked his fans and praised Latinos’ contributions to the United States. 

“If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn,” he followed in English. 

The Super Bowl halftime show will take place Feb. 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. 

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