The star of Turning Point USA’s unofficial Super Bowl halftime show may have accidentally revealed in a Fox News interview that the “live” program was prerecorded.
During a Monday appearance on The Ingraham Angle, country star Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, responded to suggestions that his performance was not live, which were prompted by syncing issues between the audio and video during the broadcast.
Viewers of the “All-American Halftime Show,” organized by Turning Point USA in order to cater to MAGA supporters who were unwilling to watch Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny in the official Super Bowl halftime show, noticed the discrepancy, and took to social media to ask if the show had been prerecorded.
“Was Kid Rock doing a really bad job of lip syncing or is my audio out of sync?” wrote one X user, while another asked, “Is this a pre-recorded event? Kid Rock is way off on the lip sync.”
“It was out of sync,” Ritchie told Ingraham, explaining that if he had been lipsyncing, “it would have been super easy to sync it up if it was prerecorded.”
“It was very difficult for the Turning Point production crew... I even told them when I saw the rough cut, ‘You guys gotta work on that sync, it’s off,’” he added, seemingly admitting that a rough cut of what was meant to be a live performance existed.
The Daily Beast’s attempts to reach Kid Rock’s representatives were unsuccessful.
Variety had previously reported that the 30-minute alternative halftime show was pre-recorded in Atlanta, Georgia, compared to the official Super Bowl halftime show, which Bad Bunny performed live at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
This drew widespread mockery, including from the conservatives Turning Point USA was attempting to appeal to with its broadcast.
“The worst part about Kid Rock lip-syncing the TPUSA Super Bowl halftime show… they opened his performance on a solid black screen… they ended on a solid black screen, as if we wouldn’t notice it was prerecorded,” Trump-friendly outlet Next News Network wrote on X.
“But the real crime? It wasn’t even live. It was pre-recorded on a small sound stage with about 200 people as backdrops—and they STILL let that bad lip sync air.”
In addition to Kid Rock, the alternative halftime show featured performances from Gabby Barrett, Lee Brice, and Brantley Gilbert, as well as Spencer Waasdorp, who performed the national anthem, and Antonio and Allison Marin, who played a string interlude. The broadcast ended up netting some five million viewers.
Bad Bunny’s official Super Bowl halftime show, meanwhile, featured guest performances from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, as well as appearances from Jessica Alba, Pedro Pascal, and Cardi B, and is tracking to be among the most-watched halftime shows in history with around 130 million viewers.
