The anti-diversity crowd won't like this. Oh, they will make excuses and try to argue. After all, the Turning Point halftime show featuring a lip-syncing Kid Rock and a few other artists who claimed they were representing the "real America" was watched by as many as six million people. It was streamed up to 25 million times within 24 hours of Super Bowl LX.
Those numbers are cute. As much as some right-wing groups wanted people to watch an all-white halftime show instead of anything with a little culture, Bad Bunny's halftime numbers dwarfed Kid Rock and his friends. Bad Bunny's show had an average viewership of 128.2 million, which was, if you are keeping score at home, more than the game itself.
But this isn't about views. Kid Rock, who couldn't even bother to actually deliver an authentic performance, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett's popularity doesn't really compare to the global phenomenon that is Bad Bunny. This is about the performance itself.
Bad Bunny was everything good that Kid Rock and friends couldn't be
The Puerto Rican icon put on a fantastic show in slightly less than 14 minutes. A couple got married. Bad Bunny spiked a football. He celebrated Latin cultures and did the same as an American for the United States. He wasn't solely about himself.
At the Turning Point show, the bigotry was on full display. The singers might as well have said, "We only want people to sing in English, and we would rather they don't have any views but the ones we hold." They seem to have forgotten that the US once had pride in being a melting pot; many cultures coming together to form one nation.
It wasn't our arguments with one another that made us great, but our appreciation that many people didn't share the same vision, but still wanted good for all. The United States can get that back, once we get back to being OK with one another instead of trying to push each other to the ground. Maybe then we can truly make America great again.
Even country musicians have been outspoken about the poor idea of Turning Point holding a subpar alternative halftime show. Zach Bryan, for instance, initially posted on Instagram, "I don’t care what side you’re on, a bunch of adults throwing temper tantrums and their own halftime show is embarrassing as hell and the most cringe s— on the planet."
If one assumes he was talking about Bad Bunny's show, be assured: He wasn't.
Even Turning Point's name for its halftime show was near-sighted. It was titled the "All-American Halftime Show," but it obviously wasn't. Only one race was involved. Moreover, if Turning Point wanted to truly include all Americans, it might have shown some of Bad Bunny's performance. He is American, too, of course.
Turning Point has said it will hold another alternate halftime show next year, even though it doesn't know who will be part of the real Super Bowl halftime show. Clearly, the organization simply wants people to pay attention to them and their singular message. Meanwhile, most of the rest of humanity will simply want to be entertained by someone who doesn't need to lip-sync.