Turning Level USA’s Halftime Present Was Precisely What You’d Anticipate

On Sunday night, throughout Unhealthy Bunny’s electrifying halftime efficiency at Tremendous Bowl LX, a crowd of what gave the impression to be fewer than 200 individuals in an undisclosed location had been handled to another live performance, “The All-American Halftime Present,” introduced by the right-wing scholar group Turning Level USA.

Conceived as culture-war counterprogramming for a present by a Puerto Rican mega-star who raps and sings in Spanish, and has been a vocal critic of ICE, the occasion featured 4 MAGA-aligned nation stars and was headlined by Child Rock, who made his entrance in jorts and trademark fedora. However for all of the ideological outrage behind this problem to globally widespread Latin music, TPUSA’s star-spangled jamboree wasn’t notably message-driven nor even provocative.

It streamed on platforms together with Rumble, DailyWire+, and a number of YouTube channels. Blake Neff, producer of The Charlie Kirk Present, claimed there have been over 5 million dwell viewers on the Turning Level USA YouTube stream; as of publication time, it has been seen over 16 million instances. Shortly earlier than going dwell, TPUSA introduced that it could not have the ability to air the particular on X as a result of “licensing points.”

Tremendous Bowl LX, in the meantime, was anticipated to attract as many as 130 million viewers.

Although largely framed as a memorial to Charlie Kirk, the TPUSA founder killed in September throughout a campus discuss, “The All-American Halftime Present” included no look by his widow, Erika Kirk, who has been on an prolonged media tour since her husband’s demise. President Trump didn’t remark straight on the live performance, selecting as a substitute to rant about Unhealthy Bunny’s efficiency.

“The Tremendous Bowl Halftime Present is completely horrible, one of many worst, EVER!” Trump wrote on his digital platform, Fact Social. “It is mindless, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t symbolize our requirements of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. No person understands a phrase this man is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, particularly for younger youngsters which are watching from all through the usA., and everywhere in the World.” These feedback got here amid renewed scrutiny of Trump’s relationship with the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Democratic social gathering’s official X account screenshotted Trump’s put up about Unhealthy Bunny, observing: “Guess he wasn’t watching Child Rock then.”

The livestream of the TPUSA occasion was preceded by a message from protection secretary Pete Hegseth, who mentioned that the so-called Division of Warfare was “proud to assist” it. Viewers had been additionally directed to a cellphone quantity they might name to “begin or be part of a Turning Level USA chapter.” Feedback on the stream had been stuffed with remarks resembling “Defend youngsters,” “No NFL on display screen,” “GOD BLESS AMERICA,” and “JESUS.”

Nation singer Brantley Gilbert kicked off the live performance, heavy on pyrotechnic visible results all through, rapping right into a microphone with brass knuckles on it and performing the hit “Grime Highway Anthem,” which he cowrote however was initially made well-known by Jason Aldean in 2010. It options the road “Higher be careful for the boys in blue,” a reference to hassle with police. The group, some carrying MAGA hats, then swayed to a few tunes by Gabby Barrett, who gained the 2021 Feminine Artist of the 12 months award on the Academy of Nation Music Awards.

Subsequent got here Lee Brice, who shouted out Kirk straight. “Charlie, he gave individuals microphones so they might say what was on their minds,” he declared earlier than launching right into a premiere efficiency of a brand new music referred to as “Nation These days.” The lyrics included an allusion to gender politics. “I flip the TV on and sit and watch the night information / Be informed if I inform my very own daughter that little boys ain’t little women / I’d be up the creek in scorching water,” he sang. The refrain famous: “It ain’t simple being nation on this nation these days.”