The great American holiday has come around once again: Super Bowl Sunday! However, this year’s competition proved different from most. No longer was the “big game” a unifying celebration, but instead a reminder of America’s polarized political landscape.
The Super Bowl is most often entertaining, featuring intense rivalries between feuding teams. This year, however, many were indifferent to whether the Seattle Seahawks or the New England Patriots won. Instead, all turned their attention to the halftime show.
When picking their headliner, the National Football League (NFL) selects the most culturally significant artists in an effort to reach widespread audiences. Bad Bunny would greatly help the NFL gain more viewership as he is one of the top artists nationally and globally. So, the NFL announced that the Puerto Rican rapper, Bad Bunny, would be the 2026 halftime show headliner.
However, the people at Turning Point USA (TPUSA)—a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics—took offense. Since Bad Bunny’s music is primarily sung in Spanish, they claimed he did not uphold American values and that his performance would undermine everything the Super Bowl stands for. In response, they offered an alternative: “The All-American Halftime Show,” featuring country artists Kid Rock, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett. They marketed their show with a promise that it would uplift everything America stands for.
In my opinion, Turning Point USA broke that promise, celebrating everything wrong with America. By designing a show just for people of a certain religion and political affiliation, they manufactured a performance that deliberately excluded and further divided the American public. This is not what the halftime show is about; this is not what America is about. America is about overcoming differences and standing in unity. This principle is why the NFL’s choice of Bad Bunny was so powerful. It promoted this unity and sense of togetherness in a nation where most Latin Americans feel ostracized and unsafe.
For TPUSA to spread spiteful messages on the actual halftime performance is to attack American values. They are feeding the polarization and hate that already is present. We should be trying to unite and celebrate our diversity.
While the TPUSA show reached an audience of 5 million, the halftime show reached over 128.2 million viewers—the most in Super Bowl history. And to that I say, “God bless America”.
