Kid Rock hits back at lip-syncing accusations after derided ‘All-American Halftime Show’ performance

Kid Rock has insisted he wasn’t lip-syncing during his widely derided performance of his song “Bawitdaba” at Turning Point USA’s so-called “All-American Halftime Show”.

The controversial singer was the headliner for the event, organised in protest of Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny’s official Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday (8 February).

The “All-American” show lasted 35 minutes – more than double the length of Bad Bunny’s set – and was reportedly filmed on a stage in Atlanta.

During an appearance on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle on Monday (9 February), Kid Rock – real name Robert James Ritchie – said he was “out of sync” with his DJ.

He added that, because he was “jumping around the stage like a rabid monkey” it had been “very difficult” for the Turning Point USA team to correct the performance in post-production.

“My DJ, who actually raps that song with me, was not lit up,” he told host Laura Ingraham. “I’m jumping around the stage like a rabid monkey, rapping my song, and I’m taking breaths, and my DJ is filling in the other parts of it – I even told them when I saw the rough cut, I was like, ‘You guys got to work on that sync. It’s off.’

“So it was just a syncing issue that they had, and I know they tried to get it right. It was very difficult.”

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Kid Rock therefore all-but confirmed that the performance was not live, and was instead pre-taped.

A number of country stars, including Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves, mocked the singer for his performance, with Musgraves stating that Bad Bunny’s show made her feel “more proudly American than anything Kid Rock has ever done”.

Meanwhile Bryan shared an Instagram reel showing a person tuned into the Turning Point USA show on their phone, while holding up a hand to futilely stop themselves from seeing the Bad Bunny set, which is playing in the background.

The event from Kid Rock and fellow performers including Brantley Gilbert, Gabby Barrett and Lee Brice reached up to 6.1 million concurrent viewers during the livestream, while early estimates suggest that more than 100 million tuned into see Bad Bunny make history as the first Super Bowl headliner to perform his set entirely in Spanish.

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Ahead of the event, Kid Rock said the Turning Point show was orchestrated for conservative Americans to celebrate their patriotism, claiming that right-wing views are not represented in mainstream media.

“There’s a big portion of this country, like it or not, that’s underserved entertainment-wise,” he said. “We’re just [going to] go play for our base. You know, people who love America, love football, love Jesus.”

Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet told Fox News on Monday that the group is planning another MAGA Super Bowl halftime show for 2027.

Donald Trump slammed Bad Bunny’s performance as “one of the worst, EVER!” in a post from his Truth Social account after the artist’s show concluded.

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In a review for The Independent, critic Mark Beaumont praised Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show as a “wild, inclusive fiesta” that celebrated Latin American culture and its undeniable influence.

Country singer Rissi Palmer also pointed out the inspiring message behind Bad Bunny’s rise to success: “I can’t think of anything more American than coming from being a bagger at a grocery store to performing at the Super Bowl halftime show,” she said.

“You don’t have to be Puerto Rican to Latinx to appreciate that. It was beautiful. It was emotional. It was intentional. It was inclusive. It was what was needed for this moment. I don’t speak Spanish but I understood the message VERY clearly.”