The right-wingers are now outraged by the announcement that BadBunny will be doing the Superbowl halftime show — he’s a Puerto Rican! He sings in Spanish! It’s Reggaeton, and as we all know, that ain’t real music! They’re torn up with anguish, that the music during halftime may not be twangy country music about pickup trucks and beer and unfaithful women. It’s very sad for them. TPUSA announced that they would host an alternative halftime show, but they haven’t provided any details and haven’t any specific artist they would include.
So someone posted a fake playbill listing an epic bunch of conservative artists. People fell for it.
Kid Rock
Ted Nugent
Travis Tritt
Jason Aldean
Aaron Lewis (of Staind)
John Rich
Lee Greenwood
Forgigato Blow
Featuring a guest appearance from MEASLES
That’s a horrible collection of washed-up freaks and fossils, all packed into an imaginary 20 minute show. I like that special guest, which should have given the game away, but I found people actually asking what band Measles was.
It’s all cope. The conservatives are desperate to capture popular culture, but they aren’t popular, and they don’t understand what’s good about music or entertainment.
All of this reflects what is a small ray of hope in our bleak political moment. MAGA’s relationship with pop culture only has two forms: Complete cluelessness and/or resentment that most people think their taste stinks. This matters, because it’s been a truism on the far-right for decades now that capturing the culture is the key to obtaining their larger political goals. MAGA influencers love to repeat, like parrots, Andrew Breitbart’s motto that “politics is downstream from culture.” The Christian right also has a version of this, which Kirk promoted: The “seven mountains mandate,” which holds that is crucial for conservative Christians to control pop culture. Over the years, untold amounts of money have been poured by right-wing donors and investors into remaking the culture in MAGA’s image, in hopes that will turn American hearts toward authoritarianism and evangelical Christianity.
But they are throwing their money to the wind. As I wrote recently, for all the hype around Kirk’s memorial, the actual event didn’t resonate beyond his existing fanbase. Nearly all the performers hailed from the world of worship music; there was nary a nod to what might resonate with people outside white evangelical subculture. This reflects a reality that the mainstream media ignored in the wake of Kirk’s murder. Even though he was widely known on college campuses, due to the ubiquity of his videos falsely promising to dunk on liberal college kids, he wasn’t well-liked. Although 94% of college students said in a recent survey they had heard of Kirk, a full 70% said they didn’t agree with his views.
Their idea of comedy is Joe Rogan and his stable of half-witted hangers-on. The Daily Wire — Ben Shapiro’s company — had a whole entertainment division to make movies and TV shows (remember Lady Ballers?), and it’s disintegrating as we watch. It’s CEO Jeremy Boreing has stepped down, and right now they’re just a money sink for billionaires. They’re coming out with a fantasy series, The Pendragon Cycle, which the teaser trailer reveals to be a series of set pieces of major battles featuring a dozen extras on each side, long slow character portraits, and guys with beards yelling a lot.
I think it’s going to bomb. Boreing decided to trade in the limp humor of his previous effort for taking himself far too seriously, and that doesn’t work.
With a name like that, we know how the entertainment will end up.
No Chachi??? Pass.
I had gotten not too deeply into reggaeton like 20 years ago. I had gone to a Chilean party in Miami while visiting with a friend’s family and they were listening to it and drinking pisco sours (one of several points of contention between Chileans and Peruvians if memory serves). Anyway I liked the music and would watch videos on some Latin American TV channelS that had music video shows. Remember when TV networks aired music videos instead of reality shows? Reggaeton often featured scantily clad women dancing to the music (and fancy cars). Who am I to complain? Before reggaeton there was Latin freestyle which was pretty cool. TKA, Stevie B, etc…
I had heard floated before that TPUSA would tap Creed to play an alternate Super Bowl show which would be a shame as it would bring even more hate upon a band that has more than its fair share already. They killed it in the late 90s. Scott Stapp became a train wreck later on and infamously hung out with Kid Rock. There might be a video.
I’m not familiar at all with Bad Bunny. I’d assume the show would have an array of well known performers besides Bad Bunny. If the Chiefs make the Super Bowl again, I will probably skip the game altogether. I hate the Chiefs, nothing against Bad Bunny.
Kid Rock and Ted Nugent would be the music performance from hell. No thanks. Two dingbats. AND Lee Greenwood? Seriously? I mean, he’s still alive? I don’t imagine Zach Bryan would be invited to sing about ICE.
I do still like Creed, despite all the hate, and despite Stapp.
I heard it was going to feature Lee Greenwood singing God Bless The USA.
For those who don’t know, he is an old country music singer. 82 years old and a right wingnut crackpot.
He is a hardcore xian nationalist. He had his first child at age 17 and has been married 5 times.
This is common in southern fundie xian redneck culture.
I’ve never heard any of his music and don’t care to waste any time on it.
This is more or less trivial and irrelevant.
Anyone can host an alternative halftime show.
There will be millions of them.
I’ll probably hang out with my cat and take a walk or something.
I’d barely heard of Bad Bunny until a few months ago.
He is apparently a world famous music artist these days, sings in Spanish, and avoids the US mainland so ICE won’t attack his concerts looking for Spanish speakers.
I’ve listened to some of his music and it is OK.
The DJ for the Dance of Defiance yesterday played a couple of his songs.
Oh and it is a possibility that Aaron Rodgers (yeah that jackass) will make the Super Bowl with the Steelers. That would also reduce my desire to watch the game. I would probably root for the Chiefs to beat the Steelers in a playoff game, but that would mean no Super Bowl for me either way. I hate Rodgers more than the Chiefs.
If Lee Greenwood is part of the TPUSA halftime show I would guess they will also be hawking those bibles he and Trump are selling.
I forget who pointed this out, but what the right really wants is cultural power, and they think that political power will get it for them. That will never work, and that’s why they will be forever angry and bitter.
The fact that both Rogan and Kirk were failed screen writers tells you something.
I have a question. Tucker Carlson had a huge media audience, but was he ever funny? My impression was that he was all about anger. Most people find anger stressful, not entertaining. But if anger is what MAGA wants, no wonder that comedy is dominated by “liberals!”
Not sure why the far-right hate Bad Bunny so much. Maybe it’s because he’s from Puerto Rico, and they hate being reminded that PR is part of the USA, therefore those Spanish-speakers get to count as Americans.
Speaking of football, all I can say is I might kinda sorta root for Taylor Swift’s Team as long as they’re not playing the Commanders, Ravens, Eagles, Steelers or 49ers.
Well, we have Trump’s latest AI effort, dropping feces on demonstrators. You have to admit that is funny in a sick kind of way. Will we see future AI political humor wars? That could be fun!
Heh.
@11 Raging Bee
I think it’s mostly that he doesn’t perform in English.
When a
fascistconservative gives me that attitude, I ask them if they think immigrants should learn the language of the country to which they immigrate.Presuming they say yes, I next ask them why we are not holding this conversation in Cherokee‽
@10 Ted Lawry
Do you mean intentionally funny?
Their idea of comedy is Joe Rogan and his stable of half-witted hangers-on.
Rogan may be on the way out in the MAGA-verse, having dared criticized the Dear Leader.
Joe Rogan Tears into Trump’s Immigration Crackdown: ‘Horrific’
You know what else is horrific? An immigration crackdown was one of Trump’s campaign promises, along with tariffs and revenge. Apparently it took Rogan almost a year to realize that Trump wasn’t lying about absolutely everything.
If the MAGA crowd are upset that Puerto Ricans are US citizens they should complain to president McKinley, who annexed every weakly protected island from the Caribbean to the Philippines. Wasn’t he a Republican?
Even worse, anything with “Columb..” in the name is named after a part Jewish W****.
Yet even worse, the whole continent is named after an oily little Spaniard with garlic breath.
Excellent! I love a good nature documentary about birds of prey.
What? Are you telling me that it’s not a proper documentary, but just a film written by an illiterate? Damn.
“Remember when TV networks aired music videos instead of reality shows?”
.
FIRST I use the time machine to go after the piss-poor Austrian painter.
THEN I go after the inventor of reality shows. If he was born when John Lennon was alive, I will nail his shooter too.
As someone with a profound lack of interest in popular music, and an actual distaste for football, I really don’t care who or what does the half-time show or who objects and tries to run an alternate. But, then, I also disdain That Felon in the White House and all those that support him.