Conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA has announced it will repeat its alternative Super Bowl halftime show next year, following what it described as the success of this year's event. The organisation, founded by Charlie Kirk, streamed an 'All-American' concert featuring Kid Rock simultaneously with the NFL's halftime performance by Bad Bunny.
Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point, told Fox News that Sunday's alternative show had attracted 20 million viewers across social media platforms, with a potential total of 50 million. However, The Athletic reported that the stream had around 6.1 million concurrent viewers, while YouTube views for the concert reached approximately 20 million by Monday afternoon. In comparison, the NFL's video of Bad Bunny's performance had over 26 million YouTube views.
The move came in protest against the NFL's choice of Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican artist who performed partly in Spanish. Some conservatives, including former President Donald Trump, criticised the decision, which was interpreted by some as a political stance supporting immigrants amid Trump's mass deportation campaign. The NFL and Roc Nation have not commented on the political interpretation.
Kolvet expressed enthusiasm for next year's event, stating, 'If you give us a year to plan this thing, I'm really excited to see what we can pull off. But we gotta do it for the country.' He added that Kirk wanted the show to 'lift up the best ideals of our country as opposed to pulling us down.'
Official viewership figures for the Super Bowl halftime show are expected to be released by NBC on Tuesday. Last year's game was the most-watched in history with 127 million viewers, and this year's audience could surpass that, given Bad Bunny's global popularity.
