Kid Rock now admits that his Super Bowl halftime show was pre-recorded—and poorly produced to boot.
The 55-year-old rocker, whose legal name is Robert James Ritchie, posted a five-minute video Tuesday to address the “libtards” and “fake news media” who accused him of lip-syncing in his MAGA-friendly performance that aired simultaneously to Bad Bunny’s in-stadium show.
“So they sent me a first cut, you know, we taped it, then they sent me a first cut, and my comment was, the sync is off,” Ritchie said of TPUSA, the show’s organizer, explaining that they were “trying to line up” the audio and video.
He continued, “It’s extremely difficult for them to line up the sync. Could have been done if we had more time. I’m confident they could have got it right. I only got to see one edit. I didn’t think it was the end of the world.”
Ritchie said the awkward moments where he was supposedly rapping “Bawitdaba”—but the microphone was clearly away from his mouth—would not have happened if he actually lip-synced the performance. He then demonstrated his rap skills to prove he didn’t need any help performing one of his biggest hits.
“That song takes so much energy,” Ritchie said. “You’ve seen me. People see me, I’m flipping mics. I’m jumping around like a like a rabid monkey on stage, still trying to at 55 years old.”
If he had “recorded it, and then played like we were singing it, lip syncing it,” he said it “would have been pie to line up. It was very difficult for them, because somebody clearly wasn’t super familiar with the song.”
The explanation is unlikely to quell mockery of the performance, which peaked at six million concurrent viewers—expected to be well over 100 million fewer than those who kept NBC on to watch Bad Bunny’s performance.
Sources revealed to Variety on Monday that the performance Ritchie headlined was pre-recorded at a studio outside Atlanta. Country musicians Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett also performed in front of approximately 200 people.
Kid Rock made no mention of Bad Bunny during the performance. However, he said in the build-up that he chose to headline the so-called “All American Halftime Show”—a name that could also fit the Puerto Rican Bad Bunny’s performance, which featured New York native Lady Gaga and San Juan-born Ricky Martin—in protest of the anti-ICE superstar’s politics and personality.
“He’s said he’s having a dance party, wearing a dress, and singing in Spanish?” Kid Rock said ahead of the event. “Cool. We plan to play great songs for folks who love America.”
The former Fox News host Megyn Kelly was among those who flipped off the Super Bowl and turned on YouTube to see Ritchie perform. His hopping around in jorts while rapping apparently brought her to tears, she revealed.
“Congratulations @TPUSA, I am in tears at that BEAUTIFUL half-time show,” she posted on X following the show. “Everyone did a spectacular job - it was perfect. THANK YOU!”
