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The dueling halftime shows of Super Bowl LX were the most boomer thing I have seen in entertainment since the 45th-anniversary reunion of “The Waltons” cast.
In defiance of Puerto Rican pop star Bad Bunny’s all-Spanish halftime show, Turning Point USA streamed its own pre-recorded “All-American Halftime Show,” featuring middle-aged country singers, cheap pyrotechnics, and headliner Kid Rock. The whole concept sounds like some geriatric reenactment of “West Side Story,” minus the murder and teenage sex.
“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 spokesman Andrew Kolvet said after Bad Bunny announced his show in October 2025.
The problem wasn’t giving Bad Bunny a little competition. It was the optics of presenting mediocre country singers as authentically American art over and against a successful American artist singing in Spanish.
Despite their statement to the contrary, TPUSA did advance an agenda. “This is real American,” country singer Brantley Gilbert said after his lead guitarist kicked off the TPUSA show with an electric rendition of the national anthem.
Performances from Lee Brice, Gabby Barrett, and Kid Rock followed. It was the kind of honky-tonk patriotism that you might expect at a small-town Fourth of July party: trucks, girls, guns, and beer. Nostalgic, but not exactly great art and certainly not representative of American culture at large.
Meanwhile, Bad Bunny took the stage at Levi’s Stadium.
On its face, his performance was a fun, colorful celebration of Latino culture and family life. Lady Gaga sang a salsa version of “Die with a Smile,” families with children danced together on stage, and a real couple got married in the middle of the show.
Translate Bad Bunny’s lyrics into English, and the themes aren’t G-rated. The backup dancer choreography is not something I would encourage a 10-year-old to watch, but twerking is par for the course in the Super Bowl halftime show.
It wasn’t high art, but he did what he was hired to do. Nothing about Bad Bunny’s performance was especially hostile to faith, family, and freedom, and he put on a good show.
Conservative influencers identified Bad Bunny’s criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and his decision to perform in Spanish as threats to American culture, and the president himself weighed in during the show.
“It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
If conservatives really want to foreground the greatness of America, they should treat Bad Bunny as a fulfillment of the American dream. Ten years ago, the performer was a college kid bagging groceries. Now he is at the top of the music world because — no matter what you think of his politics — the man is a good performer.
Bad Bunny can say what he likes about the Trump administration and immigration enforcement. Nobody is looking to him for answers, and his success as an artist runs counter to his own criticisms of the United States.
The halftime show could have been a moment to celebrate the greatness of a country in which an artist who never even performs in English rose to the top because of his merit. Instead, the right threw a fit and only increased division about our national identity by staging a half-baked alternative.
The dueling halftime performances proved the right is still stuck in the mire of a boomer culture war. If conservatives want to make headway in culture and continue the momentum of last year’s “vibe shift,” we must rise above the culture war, end the pity party, and celebrate good art.
Moira Gleason is a senior studying English.
