Bad Bunny Outshined Artists at Alternative Halftime Show, Even Among Pro-Trump Audiences

TLDR

Conservative media and political figures encouraged Super Bowl viewers to boycott this year’s halftime show featuring Bad Bunny and tune in to an event produced by a right-wing activist group instead. An early analysis from Open Measures suggests the event drew more interest as a protest against Bad Bunny’s performance than as a source of musical entertainment.

Context

Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny performed at Super Bowl LX on Sunday, delivering a 13-minute halftime show that paid homage to the US territory’s vibrant history and culture. His performance was almost entirely in Spanish – a first for the event – and reportedly broke records as the most-viewed halftime show in Super Bowl history.

After organizers announced Bad Bunny would perform at the Super Bowl halftime show on Sept. 28, conservative political and media figures decried the decision as an affront to American culture and amplified calls to boycott the performance. The next day, Jack Posobiec, one of the most visible figures at the right-wing activist organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA),  suggested on X that the organization might arrange a “counter-Superbowl halftime show,” and that Creed might even perform. On Oct. 9, TPUSA officially announced it would host an “All-American Halftime Show” to air against the Super Bowl. 

On Feb. 2, six days before the Super Bowl, TPUSA announced Kid Rock and various country music artists as the performers at their counter-event, later endorsed by Trump Administration officials including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance.

Pro-Trump Communities Discussed Bad Bunny More Than TPUSA Event Artists

Users on four text-based platforms with dominant pro-Trump communities – Gab, Gettr, Scored, and Truth Social – mentioned Bad Bunny in more posts last weekend than posts mentioning any of the four artists who headlined TPUSA’s “All-American Halftime Show.” 

On the four platforms we examined, users’ discussions of artists at the TPUSA event appeared to be relatively low. Overall, our researchers identified fewer than 200 total posts mentioning any of the artists on Feb. 8, the date both halftime shows occurred. On the Monday after the event, for every two posts on those platforms that mentioned a performer at TPUSA’s event, three posts mentioned Bad Bunny.

Caption: A Timeline graph shows mentions of Bad Bunny compared to mentions of artists booked to perform at TPUSA’s “All-American Halftime Show” from Feb. 6 to 9, 2025.

Users Showed Interest in TPUSA’s Event Rather Than The Event's Artists

Users on the platforms we searched posted about TPUSA in relation to the Super Bowl more than they posted about any of the artists the organization booked to perform, suggesting that pro-Trump audiences were more interested in the event itself than the performances it featured.

Caption: A Timeline graph comparing mentions of Turning Point USA’s event in relation to the Super Bowl vs. mentions of artists booked to perform at TPUSA’s event from Feb. 6 to 9, 2025.

An analysis of the most-shared URLs in the posts we identified painted a similar picture. Across the four platforms, many of the most-shared URLs directed to articles on hyperpartisan news sites lauding TPUSA for drawing millions of viewers to their event, framing it as a successful rebuke of the NFL for allowing Bad Bunny to perform.

Though top TPUSA personalities posted frequently to promote the event itself, the majority of them failed to mention the artists TPUSA booked to perform. Jack Posobiec, one of the most visible figures at TPUSA, created 25 Truth Social posts over the weekend promoting the event itself. By contrast, he mentioned Kid Rock in only two posts, one suggesting the performance would boost men’s testosterone levels and another that it would inspire viewers to procreate.

Caption: A Truth Social post shared by TPUSA personality Jack Posobiec on Feb. 8 states that Kid Rock’s performance at the “All-American Halftime Show” will cause a spike in birth rates.

What We’re Watching

TPUSA leaders drew millions of viewers to their alternate halftime show and have already committed to repeating the event during next year’s Super Bowl. Open Measures’ analysis suggests that interest in the event was primarily driven in its protest message against a Spanish-language performance, rather than interest in any of the musical acts it featured.

Our researchers will continue to watch discussions of Bad Bunny’s halftime performance for its potential to excite extremist actors, elicit increased hostility toward Latino populations, and inspire online organizing against sponsors of the event.