Kid Rock joined right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson on Friday morning (Feb. 6) to hype his alternative to the official Super Bowl halftime show, telling the fellow MAGA-friendly entertainer that his gig will be for people who love football, America, good music and Jesus.
In the introduction to the chat, Johnson promised that so-called “All-American Halftime Show” sponsored by conservative group Turning Point USA will “rewire the halftime show for Americans,” repeating the false right-wing talking point that official Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny is somehow less than American, though the Puerto Rican star’s home is a U.S. territory and he is an American citizen.
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Standing next to Johnson in a cowboy outfit featuring a brown cowboy hat and matching leather jacket, Rock, 55, born Robert James Ritchie in suburban Detroit, looked down at the floor and briefly paused to gather his thoughts when asked what people can expect from his livestream-only counter-programming. “From me they can expect exactly what they think I will do and then they can expect a complete 180 to expect the unexpected,” Rock said.
The rapper-turned-rocker-turned Nashville country singer then added, speaking for himself and Turning Point, “don’t let the left twist this around… in no way with any hate in our hearts. We’re simply gonna go play some great songs for our base, people who love football, love America, love good music and love Jesus,” noting that his show is no different than any other Super Bowl halftime alternatives such as the Puppy Bowl or Lingerie Bowl.
The men bonded over their mutual disdain for the “coastal elites” they said control the music industry, taking shots at the “irrelevant” artists who were featured on last weekend’s Grammy Awards, which gave out trophies to such chart-topping, arena- and stadium-filling superstars as Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga, among many others. “It’s too bad that we can’t just look at music as something that brings us together,” said Rock, who teased that he “wrote a little something” that he plans to release at midnight after the game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.
Despite Rock’s pledge of peace and love at his show, Bad Bunny’s booking has drawn considerable hate and anger from the commentariat on the right, as well as President Donald Trump and his White House team. Trump recently said that he’s “anti-them,” in reference to Bunny and opening band Green Day. “I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible,” Trump said about the booking of the Puerto Rican superstar. Bad Bunny has been the most-streamed global artist on Spotify Wrapped a record four times (2020, 2021, 2022, 2025), has earned 15 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (including one No. 1) and was recently named Billboard’s Greatest Pop Star of 2025. At the 2026 Grammy Awards, he won the night’s highest honor, album of the year.
The right-wing media has been hammering the NFL’s selection of Bad Bunny for months with claims that the singer is unfit for the gig. In particular, they’ve honed in on the fact that he mostly performs in his native Spanish and his decision to not play any shows in the U.S. last year for fear his fans might be targeted by Trump’s massive immigration crackdowns. Rock, who has one Hot 100 top 10 hit to his name, has been under fire over the past week for resurfaced lyrics from an old soundtrack song that critics have said endorses sex with underage girls.
The headliner of the TPUSA show billed as a celebration of “American faith, family and freedom” is being lambasted by a number of users on X for a track called “Cool, Daddy Cool” from the 2001 Osmosis Jones soundtrack featuring the lyrics, “Young ladies, young ladies/ I like ’em underage, see/ Some say that’s statutory, but I say that’s mandatory.”
While plenty of Benito’s early songs had sexually explicit, sometimes graphic lyrics before he pivoted to more a more progressive lyrical approach, the resurfacing of the Rock song featuring the couplet that seems to suggest a desire to have sex with underage girls appears to fly in the face of the conservative Christian group’s messaging. At press time, Billboard had not heard back from a spokesperson for Rock about the lyrics and it did not appear as if the singer had responded to the controversy.
In the meantime, in addition to Sunday’s gig, Rock rolled out the dates for his 10-date The Road to Nashville spring/summer tour, subtitled “A Celebration 250 Years in the Making,” in reference to the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations this year. The tour, slated to kick off on May 1 in Dallas, will feature support acts Jon Pardi, Parker McCollum, Brantley Gilbert, Big & Rich and Them Dirty Roses; see the dates here.
Super Bowl LX will take place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. on Sunday (Feb. 8) and air on NBC, with coverage beginning at 1 p.m. ET. Rock’s seemingly non-ticketed event will be streamed on such MAGA-friendly outlets DW+, Real America’s Voice, TBN, CHARGE!, The National News Desk, Rumble and TPUSA’s YouTube and X channels.
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