Turning Point USA has created some anticipation around its rival halftime show.
The idea to put up an alternative performance came after the NFL announced in October that reggaeton star Bad Bunny would perform at the Super Bowl LX halftime show.
Even though this year’s Super Bowl is less than two weeks away on Feb. 8, TPUSA hasn’t released much about its plans.
Details about TPUSA’s halftime show
While the show’s lineup is still under wraps, TPUSA’s latest social media post promoting the rival halftime show says it will air on several conservative channels, including Real America’s Voice, a conservative news platform, TBN, the world’s largest religious broadcasting network, as well as social media platforms including YouTube, X and Rumble.
The Rev. Jordan Wells, a pastor and conservative commentator, in a post speculated whether TPUSA would bring out rapper Nicki Minaj as the headliner for the halftime show.
“She just stunned everyone at AmericaFest—walking hand-in-hand with Erika Kirk, praising Trump, calling out the left, and going FULL MAGA mode,” Wells wrote in a post.
In October, 2025, TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet said the rival show is “happening.”
“It’s (going to) be in an arena, it’s a real production here,” Kolvet said.
“Just wait until you hear who is asking to join this lineup …,” TPUSA’s chief operating officer Tyler Bowyer said in October on X.
Trump’s reaction to Bad Bunny
Last year, Bad Bunny, Spotify’s most-streamed artist from 2020 to 2022 and 2025, used his platform to decry President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and refused to add stops in the U.S. on his 2025 tour because of the fear of raids from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He also endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential election.
“I don’t know who he is,” Trump said in October after the halftime show performer was revealed.
“I don’t know why they’re doing it — it’s like crazy,” the president said in the interview. “They blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said her department will be “all over” the Super Bowl, adding “people should not be coming to the Super Bowl unless they are law abiding Americans who love this country.”
In a podcast appearance from October 2025, DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski said, “There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally, not the Super Bowl and nowhere else.”
“The NFL has been so woke for so many years, they finally decided to make a comeback,” said Lewandowski. “But it’s so shameful that they’ve decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much to represent them at the halftime game.
The outrage Bad Bunny garnered as the halftime show performer isn’t unusual. As Jennifer Graham wrote in an opinion piece for the Deseret News, “Performances involving Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson, and Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, sparked outrage because of their sexualized content.”
She further wrote, “But sometimes it seems the NFL cannot win: Adam Levine’s performance in 2019, in which the Maroon 5 frontman took off his shirt, was widely panned as boring.”
The Puerto Rican artist is a three-time Grammy Award winner and Billboard’s Artist of the Year in 2022. He has 51.5 million subscribers on YouTube.
Who could be on the lineup?
Erika Kirk interviewed Minaj in front of a live audience of about 30,000 during TPUSA’s AmericaFest in December 2025. Minaj didn’t perform but her hit song “Super Bass” played as she walked on stage.
“I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president,” Minaj said at the event. “I don’t even know if he knows this but he has given so many people hope that there’s a chance to beat the bad guys and win and do it with your head held high and your integrity intact.”
As Arizona Central notes, musician Andrew Kolvet had egged on speculation about the rock band Creed playing during the halftime show.
“Crazier things have happened,” Kolvet said in a post responding to a clip of Turning Point USA staffers discussing the possibility on “The Charlie Kirk Show.” A Creed song, “Higher,” played as Vice President JD Vance walked on stage at AmericaFest on Dec. 21.