Are you a Bad Bunny or a Kid Rock American? In U.S., be free to choose.
Two polarizing performers — one Puerto Rican, the other a Michigander — are competing head-to-head during Super Bowl Sunday for the eyes, ears and hearts of Americans.
The halftime show is the most viewed televised concert in the U.S., and Turning Point USA’s “The All-American Halftime Show” headliner Robert James Ritchie aka Kid Rock hopes to make a dent in the ratings of the official performance featuring Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio aka Bad Bunny.
Competition is the American way. And so are both artists. May the best show win.
However, the premise behind the alternative programming and its name — “All-American” — rely on the trope that the NFL has abandoned Americans by bringing on a Spanish-language artist.
False. Puerto Rico in the Caribbean is a part of the U.S. and so is Michigan, which borders Canada. Kid Rock and Bad Bunny are both American.
They are different in several ways, however.
One performs in English, the other in Spanish.
One is a country, hip-hop, rock and heavy metal artist. The other’s genre is musica urbana (urban music), which includes reggaeton and trap.
Then, there’s their political world views.
Kid Rock is pro-Trump while Bad Bunny has criticized the president’s policies, particularly on immigration enforcement.
This feels like a musical rematch of the most recent presidential election. Viewers can vote with their feet. Or as nearly 90 million non-voting registered voters did in 2024, they can simply tune out.
I’ve written about both artists in the past
Last October, I wrote a column titled, “If you don’t get Bad Bunny now, learning Spanish before the Super Bowl won’t help.”
The purpose: to address the criticism he faced that he was un-American and even a “demon.”
I’ve addressed the first point above, but the second comment might allude to some of his raunchy, sexualized lyrics.
In this, Kid Rock is no stranger, either. Wholesome, he is not.
In 2018, he was scheduled to be the grand marshal of the Nashville Christmas parade when I lived and worked in Music City.
He owns a home in Nashville and his name is on a honky-tonk bar on Broadway, the city’s famed entertainment strip, and nearby seafood restaurant.
After he called one of “The View”'s co-hosts the b-word, I wrote a column for my former employer, The Tennessean, calling on the artist to step aside.
To his credit, he did, but my weekend was ruined by some of his most ardent fans blowing up my social media accounts with scathing criticism of my opinion. I made amends with one superfan who insisted on me buying her lunch at, yes, Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse.
Kid Rock, who has been described as a “complicated human being,” has shown tremendous generosity by paying needy people’s bills. At the same time, he was also the guy who shot up a bunch of Bud Light beers because the company featured transgender influencer Dylvan Mulvaney on a special edition can.
Here’s the performer that I plan to watch on Sunday
I’ve watched numerous Super Bowl halftime shows in years past including those with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, Prince, and the 2004 show featuring Kid Rock and that year’s newsmaking headliner Janet Jackson. Last year’s show, featuring Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy-winning artist Kendrick Lamar broke all previous records with 133 million viewers.
I have no problem with people tuning in to the show by Turning Point USA, whose founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated last September.
As for me, I plan to watch the Bad Bunny performance.
It’s not a rebuke of Kid Rock. I just prefer Bad Bunny’s music. His recent “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” (“I Should Have Taken More Photos") recently won the top prize of Album of the Year at the 2026 Grammy Awards, making history as the first Spanish-language artist to take this honor.
The album is my go-to running playlist because of its combination of fast-moving, salsa-infused songs and introspective, longing ballads — a love letter to Puerto Rico.
In 2025, he was Spotify’s top-streamed artist in world, eclipsing the iconic Taylor Swift.
I will admit that I also favor the message of love that he conveyed during the Grammys over the violence of tearing up aluminum cans with cold steel for the sake of attention.
In America, people have a choice. You can be a Bad Bunny American or a Kid Rock American. And you can be All-American either way.
David Plazas is the opinion editor for the AJC. Email him at david.plazas@ajc.com.
About the Author
David Plazas joined the AJC as opinion editor in 2025. His goal is to create the ultimate platform for conversations, debates and idea exchanges in the South. He spent 25 years at the USA TODAY Company working his way from reporter at The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida, to statewide opinion and engagement editor at The Tennessean in Nashville.
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