No surprise there.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed today that the televisions at President Trump’s Super Bowl party at Mar-a-Lago will be tuned into the Turning Point USA All-American Halftime Show during the Super Bowl, which will be airing at the same time as the Apple Music halftime show at the game featuring Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny.
If you’re not familiar with the origins of the All-American Halftime Show, it all started back in October when the NFL announced that Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny would be headlining the halftime show at Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California on February 8.
The global superstar and Puerto Rican rapper, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has been famously outspoken against President Donald Trump, and even announced that he wouldn’t be touring in the United States due to the president’s immigration policies.
Naturally his selection to headline the Apple Music halftime show led to plenty of backlash from conservative football fans, who believe he was chosen as a middle finger of sorts to President Donald Trump.
Even the president himself weighed in on the halftime show:
“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.”
But NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has voiced his support for Bad Bunny and dismissed criticism of his selection as the halftime performer:
“He’s one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world. That’s what we try to (choose). It’s an important stage to us. It’s an important element to the entertainment value. It’s carefully thought through. I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism.
It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching. We’re confident it’s going to be a great show. He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.”
Well Turning Point USA, the organization founded by Charlie Kirk, announced last week that their alternate halftime show will feature performances from Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett instead, airing opposite the official halftime show on various conservative networks and streaming services. And while it’s yet to be seen how many people actually change the channel, it sounds like they can already count on President Trump to be watching.
During a White House press briefing today, Leavitt was asked which halftime show the president would be watching as he hosts his Super Bowl party at Mar-a-Lago, the so-called “winter White House.” And Leavitt seemed to confirm that the president wasn’t really interested in Bad Bunny’s performance:
“I think the president would much prefer a Kid Rock performance over Bad Bunny, I must say that.”
Of course that’s not really a surprise: President Trump has frequently praised Kid Rock and has gotten close with the rock star over the years, inviting him to the White House and even recording an intro video for Kid Rock’s concert.
Although if we’re honest, you’ve gotta think at least one TV will be tuned in to Bad Bunny so the president can respond if the halftime show decides to take a shot at him…
