Hollywood Is Freaking Out Over the Super Bowl’s New Power Player — and It’s Not a Studio. Turning Point USA Just Kicked Open a Side Door to America’s Biggest Entertainment Stage. This “All-American Halftime” Special Doesn’t Need NFL Approval, and That’s What Has Insiders So Nervous. If It Works, the Super Bowl Will Never Belong Fully to Hollywood Again.

For decades, the Super Bowl halftime show has been one of Hollywood’s favorite playgrounds.

Pop icons land the booking, superstar producers shape the spectacle, major labels flood the soundtrack, and the entire entertainment machine lines up behind a single 12-minute blast of carefully curated culture. If you want the country’s biggest stage, you go through that system — not around it.

Turning Point USA just decided to go around it.

The conservative advocacy group has announced The All American Halftime Show, a full-on rival special set to air during Super Bowl LX’s official halftime performance on February 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Branded as a celebration of “faith, family & freedom,” the event is being marketed as an alternate, values-forward halftime show — produced entirely outside the usual Hollywood and NFL pipeline. Performers haven’t even been formally named yet, and the project has already forced the entertainment world to ask a question it never thought it would have to consider:

What happens when the Super Bowl suddenly has two halftime shows?

Turning Point USA to air its own 'All American' Super Bowl LX halftime show to compete with NFL's Bad Bunny | New York Post

How a Counter-Program Became a Headline

The spark for all of this was the NFL’s decision to tap Grammy-winning star Bad Bunny as the official Apple Music Super Bowl halftime performer for 2026

It was a historic choice in the league’s ongoing push to lean into global music and younger audiences. But it also set off a wave of criticism from some conservative commentators, who objected to everything from his political views to the fact that he mainly performs in Spanish.

Turning Point USA stepped into that reaction with its own announcement: a competing, separately produced halftime special built around overtly patriotic branding and English-language music. The organization launched a dedicated site promoting “The All American Halftime Show,” highlighting its themes and inviting fans to vote on preferred genres, from country and classic rock to worship music and pop.

Right away, it was clear this wasn’t just a casual watch party or a church concert that happened to be airing on the same night. It was marketed as counter-programming — an intentional parallel broadcast designed to give viewers an alternative to the NFL’s official halftime production.

In other words, TPUSA wasn’t just selling a concert. It was selling a choice.

Why Hollywood Is Paying Attention

From the outside, it might be tempting to shrug this off as just another culture-war stunt that will flare up and fade away.

Hollywood insiders aren’t shrugging.

There are a few reasons the announcement raised eyebrows in West Coast boardrooms:

The Super Bowl is the crown jewel of live entertainment.
The halftime show is one of the most-watched performances on Earth every year. When Rihanna headlined in 2023 and Usher in 2024, viewership topped 100 million. 
That kind of attention is something traditional gatekeepers do not want to see split.

This is the first serious “parallel spectacle.”
We’ve seen alternate broadcasts — kid-friendly feeds, alternate commentaries, different language options — but they’ve all been licensed or blessed by the league and its partners.
TPUSA’s special is different: an independent event, framed as an ideological alternative, courting the same eyeballs at the same time.

Sponsors and artists are watching.
If the All American Halftime Show pulls in real numbers — even just a strong streaming audience — it opens a door. Suddenly, any group with enough money and marketing muscle could pitch its own “shadow halftime” with a handpicked lineup and message.

It underlines how fractured the entertainment landscape has become.
The idea that one network, one league, and one industry can set the tone for a national moment is already fading. A rival halftime show makes that fragmentation visible in a single, very symbolic 12-minute window.

The very existence of this project is a reminder that big tent events aren’t as controlled as they used to be. Even if the TPUSA show ends up drawing a fraction of the official audience, the precedent is on the board.

Fan Support pours in for Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA 'All-American Halftime' countering Bad Bunny | NFL News - The Times of India

Star Power, Rumors, and Reality

If there’s one thing Hollywood respects, it’s star power — and that might be the biggest wild card in TPUSA’s halftime play.

So far, the All American Halftime Show has not announced a final lineup, though promotional material promises “musical artists to be announced” and hints at a mix of country, classic rock, pop, and worship styles.

The vacuum has been filled, as usual, with speculation and a dash of misinformation. One widely shared rumor suggested country star Carrie Underwood and gospel singer Guy Penrod were locked in as headliners. A number of outlets have since noted that there’s no confirmation to back that up, and coverage has framed the chatter as unverified at best.

That uncertainty cuts both ways:

For supporters, it keeps excitement high.
The promise of a surprise lineup allows TPUSA to frame every teaser as “you don’t want to miss this,” without having to clear the same layers of industry negotiation the NFL and its halftime producers deal with.

For skeptics, it’s a potential weak point.
Some reports have already questioned whether the organization can attract enough widely recognizable names to compete with a global superstar like Bad Bunny, with commentary dubbing the show “in trouble” if it can’t secure top-tier talent.

Either way, Hollywood is watching the casting process closely. If major artists sign on, it signals that the industry is more willing to cross into explicitly values-branded events than many executives assumed. If the lineup leans heavily on niche acts or internal personalities, the entertainment establishment will be quick to declare it a proof-of-concept failure — even if the core audience walks away thrilled.

The NFL Stays Its Course — For Now

One question that popped up almost immediately was whether all of this noise might pressure the NFL to reconsider its own halftime strategy.

So far, there’s no sign of that.

League officials have stood by their choice of Bad Bunny, framing the decision as part of an ongoing effort to reflect the league’s global fan base and to reach younger, more diverse viewers.

From their perspective, turning the Super Bowl into a cultural battleground every February is not the goal. What they do want is relevance, and booking one of the world’s biggest streaming artists fits that playbook.

At the same time, it’s impossible to ignore how politicized even entertainment decisions have become. Coverage from outlets like The Washington Post, ABC News, and Forbes has already framed the All American Halftime Show as a sign that the Super Bowl itself has become a stage for competing visions of what the country should look and sound like.

That doesn’t mean the league will back down. But it does mean the NFL is now sharing the cultural spotlight — even if only indirectly — with a rival event it doesn’t control.

Turning Point USA's Halftime Show Will Take On Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Show By Offering "Anything In English"

When the Owner’s Box Weighs In

If you really want to know whether something is making waves in the sports-entertainment world, look to the owner’s box.

Gracie Hunt, daughter of Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt and a highly visible figure in NFL circles, has already praised the TPUSA halftime concept in interviews, saying she “most definitely” prefers the alternative show’s focus on family and traditional themes.

Her comments don’t change league policy, but they do underscore how divided opinion is even among people deep inside the football world. For some, the TPUSA show feels like a welcome return to what they see as more familiar cultural territory. For others, it’s an unnecessary escalation in a space that used to be mostly about music and spectacle.

Either way, when the heir to one of the NFL’s most storied franchises publicly sides with a rival halftime event, people notice.

What an “All-American Halftime” Could Actually Look Like

Strip away the headlines and the heat, and a simple, practical question remains:

What will viewers actually see if they tune into this alternate show instead of watching the official halftime broadcast?

Based on what TPUSA has released so far — and on past events the organization has produced — a few elements seem likely:

Live music with an emphasis on familiar American genres.
Expect country, classic rock, and patriotic ballads, possibly mixed with worship music and pop tracks that lean heavily on “uplift” and nostalgia.

Onstage messaging about values.
The core branding — “faith, family, freedom” — suggests short speeches or video packages about community service, gratitude, and civic pride, likely delivered in a positive, rally-style tone rather than a policy-heavy one.

A made-for-streaming format.
Because this isn’t the official broadcast, the show will probably live on streaming platforms and partner outlets rather than a major network feed. That gives producers freedom to integrate behind-the-scenes segments, documentary-style clips, and extended performances without fitting into a strict TV window.

A family-friendly visual style.
Promotional language and early commentary emphasize “family viewing,” which points toward more conservative staging and wardrobe choices than some recent Super Bowl acts — closer to a national holiday concert than a club performance.

If the production values are high and the performances land, the special could feel less like a protest and more like a parallel festival — which is exactly the kind of tone TPUSA will likely aim for if it wants to build a recurring franchise.

Why This Moment Matters Beyond One Game

It’s easy to dismiss a rival halftime show as just another flare-up in a long list of cultural arguments.

But embedded in this story are bigger trends about where American entertainment is headed:

The end of one-size-fits-all “national moments.”
Between streaming, on-demand viewing, and now full-fledged alternate live events, the idea that the country will gather around a single performance is fading. We’re choosing our own feeds — even for the Super Bowl.

The rise of values-branded entertainment.
TPUSA’s halftime show isn’t just a concert; it’s explicitly marketed as a statement about what its organizers believe American culture should highlight. That same model is already popping up in films, festivals, and touring shows across the spectrum, from faith-based productions to social-justice-driven art events.

The shrinking grip of traditional gatekeepers.
If an outside group can grab a slice of Super Bowl Sunday attention without going through the league or major studios, it suggests the old pathways to mass visibility aren’t as mandatory as they once were.

The risk of permanent cultural “split-screen” viewing.
More choice can be a good thing. But there’s a trade-off: the more we create parallel entertainment universes, the fewer shared reference points we have. When one half of the audience is watching Bad Bunny and the other is watching a values-driven counter-show, they’re not just hearing different songs — they’re living in different cultural stories.

That last point is what gives this moment its weight. The All American Halftime Show might end up being a one-off curiosity, a modestly watched special that makes big headlines and then fades. Or it might serve as a template for future “shadow events” around award shows, major concerts, and other tentpole broadcasts.

If it’s even moderately successful, don’t be surprised if every big national event comes with at least one parallel version attached.

The Only Guarantee: Everyone Will Be Watching Something

As Super Bowl LX inches closer, two countdown clocks are already running.

One is the familiar hype machine around the official halftime show: teaser commercials, rehearsal rumors, and endless debate about setlists and surprise guests.

The other is newer — a slow drip of announcements and promo from TPUSA and its partners as they build their All American Halftime Show into a fully formed event, lineup and all.

By the time the game kicks off, viewers won’t just be choosing between teams.

They’ll be choosing between halftime universes.

For Hollywood, that’s unsettling. For the NFL, it’s a new variable to manage. For Turning Point USA, it’s an enormous opportunity — and a test of whether cultural influence can really be wrestled away from the traditional gatekeepers, even for a few minutes.

And for everyone else, it’s a preview of where American entertainment is heading:

Less “one show for everyone,” and more “pick your channel, pick your values, pick your show.”

On Super Bowl Sunday in 2026, that choice will be more obvious — and more visible — than ever before.