‘The View’ Cohosts Give Verdict on Kid Rock & Alternative Super Bowl 2026 Halftime Show
The cohosts of The View were dressed in sports gear to celebrate ahead of Super Bowl weekend on Friday’s (February 6) show. And for the first “Hot Topic” discussion, they talked about the fact that some on the political right have been so averse to the Bad Bunny-led Super Bowl LX halftime show that they’re turning to counter-programming by Turning Point USA and Kid Rock.
“This is a business model. Nobody’s looking to make moral statements. They picked Bad Bunny because he was the most-streamed artist of 2025 with over 19.8 billion streams,” Sara Haines said. “They picked the guy that will draw in the people to watch the halftime show. It’s that simple. It’s not political. The people tuning in know it’s good music. It’s a talented artist.”
When Joy Behar challenged, “Yeah, but will he say something political?” referring to the fact that Bad Bunny did make political comments during the Grammy Awards, Haines countered with, “His existence is being made political. That’s the point.” Haines went on to argue, “If you’re watching Turning Point it’s because you’re choosing to be political.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin, the panel’s resident Republican, agreed by taking a dig at Kid Rock. “If you have to pretend Kid Rock is good music, you’re making it political,” she said with a laugh, earning claps from the crowd.
Behar then read aloud a quote from Kid Rock about Bad Bunny: “He said he’s having a dance party wearing a dress and singing in Spanish. Cool. We plan to play great songs for folks who love America.” Behar then interpreted that to mean, “So in other words, if you’re speaking in Spanish and you want to dance, that makes you unAmerican, according to Kid Rock.”
Sunny Hostin then issued a “PSA” to watchers to note, “So many people have said that they have this foreign act in Bad Bunny performing for halftime, just for a public service announcement for those people, Puerto Ricans are American citizens.” She also pointed to actual foreign artists who performed at Super Bowl halftime shows past, like U.K. stars Phil Collins, U2, and Coldplay. “It’s so very racist what’s happening in this country. Let’s call a thing a thing.”
She also went on to read out lyrics from one of Kid Rock’s songs, which sexualized underaged girls. “If that’s more American, go for it.”
Griffin went on to note that Super Bowl halftime artists are often subject to backlash, predict that this will be the most-watched ever, and take another dunk on Kid Rock. “At the end of the day, like Kid Rock is a very average artist who has mostly kind of gone past his prime. Average might be generous. One of my favorite clips… was him performing at the RNC. And everyone, including our dear first lady, looks just sort of confused. It was just like, ‘What is this that I am watching here?'” She also called the hubbub in general a “waste of energy.”
Ana Navarro had a very different take on the matter, however. “Look, yes, it is political. It is political because Bad Bunny is a man… a Latino and a Hispanic who has never shied away from defending his culture, his identity, in his people. It is political because Bad Bunny chose not to have any concerts in mainstream U.S.A., in the mainland, because he was afraid that they would be used as bait [for] ICE to go after his community, and if you have seen the racial profiling going on in Minneapolis, you wouldn’t fault him for making that decision to protect his people. It is about racism. People who think that being American only means looking a certain way, sounding a certain way, singing a certain way, dancing a certain way. Puerto Ricans have been natural-born citizens of the United States since 1917.”
Navarro concluded with, “I don’t care what they do. If you want to watch Kid Rock, go at it. If you want to watch the guy with no Grammys instead of the guy with 18 Grammys, go at it. If you want to watch the guy who is hot, Bad Bunny, or the guy who’s not, go at it. You’re not going to take one iota of joy away from the Latino community and from everybody in this country who is open to culture, is open to music, is open to having music being unified, and this is such a significant moment for the Latino community that has been under attack, and so we’re going to celebrate it, And we don’t care what you all are doing.”
The View, weekdays, 11a/10c, ABC
Conversation15 Comments
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B
saying that kid rock is 'average' is an insult to all those that are average
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C
Thank you to All of The View host to getting it Right . BAD BUNNY IS A SUPER STAR AND kid rock has been Who
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G
Funniest thing I have read so far about the 'alternative show' is 'it's A Who's who of Who?"
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S
That’s funny since more people know who Kid Rock is. Half the country have never heard of bad rabbit. He sings in a language that way over half the country does not understand. He is a hateful racist, whose only goal is to stir hate among the rest of the country. Hopefully the NFL smartens up.
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A
What about those other artists performing beside KR, do you even know them?
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A
As I said previously when Bad Bunny was originally announced as the Super Bowl Halftime Show performer, since that event will be the most watched show on TV and he's part of that show, if the people watching don't change the channel and especially are at a party celebrating either of the football teams, they should just shut up about it when he performs! Oh, and if they do switch to Kid Rock and whoever the other performers are, hope KR and those other musicians don't ignite the flame and say bad things about their competitor. That would be the most fair thing to do, if you ask me!
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G
¡Me encanta el Sr. Conejo!
¡Vamos Seahawks!
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F
El conejo es mal. 👎Seahawks!
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J
I disagree with this take. I simply enjoy country and rock music over hiphop, and i enjoy music I can understand over music I can't. That's all there really is to it. And until Jay-Z is no longer in charge of booking the halftime show, I expect people like me to be underrepresented. The past several years have been a consistent dose of hiphop and minority artists. One could even accuse Jay-Z of racism with his selections. It's been over 20 years since a country artist performed the halftime show. That hardly seems fair.
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G
"Bad Bunny is a versatile artist primarily known for reggaeton and Latin trap. His music, often categorized under música urbana, blends these core styles with a wide range of genres, including Latin pop, punk, rock, soul, and traditional Puerto Rican sounds like bomba. He is frequently called the "King of Latin Trap".
Bad Bunny ISN'T A RAPPER!!!
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F
Iam American Native, American Spaniard, American Mexican and American French woman; I gave his music a listen...don't care for it. That being said I don't care for Kid either; my husband and family watch the games all year...we just want to watch Football!!! THAT'S WHAT THE SUPERBOWL USED TO BE ABOUT! We're tired of it being about everything but FOOTBALL!!!
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A
Watch ICE hit the Super Bowl
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A
Roger Goodell said the choice of Bad Bunny is meant for unity. That's funny, last time I checked, 90% of America doesn't speak or understand Spanish. So, how does having a cross dressing, Hispanic lyric act unify the people watching an American sport?
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R
I have no idea who Bad Bunny is, nor do I care and I'll be watching the alternative show. I don't care if he was the most streamed or not he's not the most popular! I know at least 20 people that don't have a clue who he is. The lineup for the alternative show is awesome and I like having the choice.
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A
Other than Kid Rock, I definitely don't know or care about the other acts performing beside him so I guess we're mutual about our disagreements, that's for sure!
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