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TPUSA Halftime Show Ruled a Fumble
PJ Media ^ | 9 Feb 2026 | Ashley McCulley

Posted on 02/10/2026 3:08:11 PM PST by Rummyfan

I've written this article three times now, going back and forth over how criticizing Turning Point USA (TPUSA) would go over with an audience full of Charlie Kirk fans, myself among them. After surveying social media and talking to a few people, I've decided it needs to be said: TPUSA's alternate halftime show was a fumble, and an ugly one.

TPUSA is arguably the most prominent beacon for Gen Z and Gen Alpha conservatives, in other words, people born between 1997 and 2014. When we're looking at this audience, it's safe to say people between the ages of 17 and 29 are not going to be impressed by Kid Rock, whose biggest hit, "All Summer Long," was released in 2007 — almost twenty years ago.

The official Super Bowl halftime show featured an act this target group loves. Granted, his lyrics are appalling, so it’s a good thing they’re all in Spanish—although maybe if they weren’t, parents would be outraged enough to do something. But as the cashier at my local Publix told me, “He has a great beat that just makes you want to get up and dance!” She is 20.

(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...


TOPICS: Sports; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: ashleymcculley; bloggers; drewtard; football; halftime; hangthetrolls; hawhaw; pjmedia; superbowl; tpusa

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1 posted on 02/10/2026 3:08:11 PM PST by Rummyfan
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To: Rummyfan

Even with all that it still drew significant viewership. And it was thrown together last minute. Next year take more time to prepare and line up more relevant and current acts.


2 posted on 02/10/2026 3:09:34 PM PST by Rummyfan (Ok In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support lthe civilized man.👨 so t tv)
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To: Rummyfan

The Hendrix shout-out National Anthem was stellar!


3 posted on 02/10/2026 3:11:47 PM PST by lightman (Beat the Philly fraud machine the Amish did onest, ja? Nein, zweimal they did already!)
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To: Rummyfan

Just what we need, more fratricide.


4 posted on 02/10/2026 3:11:48 PM PST by Obadiah
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To: Rummyfan

My 2 Puerto Rican pastor friends told me the show was purposely demonic.


5 posted on 02/10/2026 3:12:12 PM PST by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose GOD is the LORD. ~ Psalm 33:12)
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To: Rummyfan
Granted, his lyrics are appalling,

How about incomprehensible? The half-time show was in Spanish, while even Spanish speakers joked they still couldn't understand.

6 posted on 02/10/2026 3:12:54 PM PST by tlozo (“We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump)
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To: Rummyfan
Kid Rock was making Ashlee Simpson's SNL lip sync look Oscar-worthy.

Kid Rock explained that he wasn't lip syncing.

7 posted on 02/10/2026 3:13:57 PM PST by Kleon
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To: stars & stripes forever

Thankfully Turning Point did what needed to be done years ago with an alternative show.


8 posted on 02/10/2026 3:15:42 PM PST by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose GOD is the LORD. ~ Psalm 33:12)
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To: Rummyfan

Please go back and watch the first Superbowl halftime show, and compare to TPUSA show, before I can take the author seriously.

I have written plenty of strongly opinionated posts and emails, that I never posted or sent, even though from my point of view I had good points and facts.

Something’s are better left unsaid.

But whatever, go $hit in the living room, it’s a free country. Don’t get mad when everyone dunks on you.


9 posted on 02/10/2026 3:19:53 PM PST by pacificus
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To: Obadiah

Seriously. Clumsily written and gratuitously negative. Tell ya what, sis. We’ll put you in charge of next year’s TPUSA show so you can crack the ten million or so that this effort got.

Nitwit


10 posted on 02/10/2026 3:20:31 PM PST by j.havenfarm (25 years on Free Republic, 12/10/25! More than 12,750 replies and still not shutting up!)
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To: Obadiah

The writer of this seems like a snob.

And I’m reminded of the saying about the people on the sidelines second-guessing the person actually in the ring putting it all on the line.

I think more than anything, the TPUSA event was a chance for people to say they will walk away from the profane. If they walked away to see what this gal calls a “bad fumble” it makes the point all the more. I think people would like to tell the NFL they would rather watch paint dry than sit through the crap at the Super Bowl.


11 posted on 02/10/2026 3:20:55 PM PST by butterdezillion
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To: Rummyfan

It’s a shame that the halftime show is garnering more attention than the game. Maybe the NFL should change the rules so that after every tackle, the offensive player has to bend over and drop his pants and let the guy who tackled him dry hump him.


12 posted on 02/10/2026 3:21:03 PM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all. )
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To: Rummyfan

I think 5-6 million, with 24 million at its peak, is pretty good.
These are numbers that hurt the NFL for viewership. The NFL, when all is said and done, is going to have to give up revenues back to its sponsors.

It achieved what it was supposed to .


13 posted on 02/10/2026 3:21:05 PM PST by Jonty30 (I always ask AI stupid questions to avoid the smart lists for elimination. I want to surprise it.)
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To: Rummyfan

A game ofpool was played between Half-time and TPUSA.

If you can’t win, the strategy is to figure how to block your opponent’s shot. TPUSA knew it wouldn’t have the numbers of half-time, so it choose to give the best show it could and draw viewers away from NFL.

It cost NFL millions of dollars in the process.
That’s a win in my books.


14 posted on 02/10/2026 3:23:33 PM PST by Jonty30 (I always ask AI stupid questions to avoid the smart lists for elimination. I want to surprise it.)
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To: Rummyfan

I loved the TPUSA halftime show, but then, I am old. And, I do not really need to be “entertained.” Just want to ENJOY something. I saw some of the Fag Bunny show ... grabbing crotch and shaking butts just don’t appeal to me.


15 posted on 02/10/2026 3:24:38 PM PST by goodnesswins (Make educ institutions return to the Mission...reading, writing, math...not Opinions & propaganda)
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To: Rummyfan

I watched the dismal SB show and I thought the Bunny sucked, because when I heard they were trotting out Kid Rock at the TPUSA event I had zero interest in that.


16 posted on 02/10/2026 3:25:19 PM PST by Bullish (My tagline ran off with another man, but it's okay... I wasn't married to it.)
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To: Rummyfan
I didn't watch the TPUSA show.

I'm sure this will be an unpopular take here but I kinda think having our own "anti-woke" halftime show makes us look like whiny losers.

It seems we've squandered so much cultural currency in the past fifteen months. How did we go from being the photogenic, stylish "cruel kids" to wrinkly, ole' Kid Rock wearing jorts and lip-syncing about dusting off our bibles?


17 posted on 02/10/2026 3:27:24 PM PST by Drew68
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To: Rummyfan

On TV, it sounded like the crowd was cheering uproariously, but there are tons of cell phone videos taken by people at the game and you can see nobody is cheering or dancing. Obviously the network piped in the crowd noise like they did during the covid games.


18 posted on 02/10/2026 3:29:24 PM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all. )
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To: butterdezillion
...the TPUSA event was a chance for people to say they will walk away from the profane.

And for that alone, everyone should be eternally grateful. The NFL is a machine with a literal army of people that spent tens of millions on that profane half-time demonstration. The TPUSA spent a fraction of that amount with a volunteer team of what? Hundreds?

Talk about myopic ingratitude.

19 posted on 02/10/2026 3:29:27 PM PST by Obadiah
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To: Drew68
Re: New York magazine cover photo in Post 17.

Don't let the enemy control the narrative.

The filthy, racist propagandists at New York Magazine cropped the original photo to exclude non-white individuals in an attempt to paint MAGA supporters to be as racist as the New York leftists are.



For more details:

https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/1216fc662c6ccf50a72375144f204edb

20 posted on 02/10/2026 3:35:50 PM PST by T.B. Yoits
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