Turning Point’s Halftime Show Signals Media Turning Point
Posted on: February 8, 2026, 08:41h.
Last updated on: February 8, 2026, 08:43h.
- Turning Point USA launched what it considered a more patriotic alternative to Bad Bunny’s Spanish Super Bowl Halftime Show
- The broadcast featured Kid Rock and country stars
- Secretary Pete Hegseth signaled political support for the event
None of the performer on Turning Point USA (TPUSA)’s alternative Super Bowl halftime show made a political statement on Sunday night, but they didn’t have to. Millions of NFL fans switched off Bad Bunny to tune into the “All-American Halftime Show” — 5 million on YouTube alone.
Airing as counter-programming to the big game’s Spanish language performance, the broadcast featured country singers Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett and a closing set by Kid Rock.
It was also set to broadcast on X, but an unexplained last-minute licensing issue ended that plan.
In a statement to Fox News, TPUSA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said: ‘The All-American Halftime Show is an opportunity for all Americans to enjoy a halftime show with no agenda other than to celebrate faith, family, and freedom.”
TPUSA was founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk and his widow, Erika, who vowed to continue promoting his message after her husband’s assassination in September at a college speaking engagement in Utah.
A New Spin
Counter‑programming the Super Bowl isn’t new. Since 2005, Animal Planet’s “Puppy Bowl” has reliably drawn millions of adults 25–54 looking for something cuter and quieter than the NFL’s spectacle.
But Turning Point’s move echoes a different precedent. In 1992, Fox’s “In Living Color” aired a live episode during Super Bowl XXVI’s halftime whose mission succeeded wildly.
That broadcast siphoned 22 million viewers and embarrassed the NFL, whose own halftime that year was a Disney‑produced “Winter Magic” revue featuring Gloria Estefan and Dorothy Hamill. The ratings hit pushed the league to overhaul halftime entirely, ushering in the modern pop‑superstar era — from Michael Jackson to Rihanna, Bruno Mars, and the infamous 2004 Janet Jackson–Justin Timberlake incident.
Turning Point USA’s new twist is like the “In Living Color” stunt in reverse. By spotlighting only white artists representing Christian values, it attempted to un-correct the NFL’s 1992 cultural course correction.
But “The All-American Halftime Show” wasn’t like the “In Living Color” broadcast. It didn’t feel like a one-off event designed to embarrass the NFL into changing its tune. It seemed more like a rallying cry for even more fragmentation along cultural and political lines than America has already experienced.
The performance was introduced by a video message from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
“From the War Department, we salute Turning Point USA and every American who still believes freedom is worth defending,” he said in the clip. “Thank you for your courage as an organization, your clarity and your leadership, and for this halftime show that the War Department is proud to support.”
Though the Super Bowl will remain the shared main stage for the foreseeable, and its projected audience of 100 million is unthreatened, the invention of what seems destined to become a permanent partisan halftime alternative is a stark reminder of how many Americans no longer wish to share cultural experiences with one another anymore.
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