The culture war, it seems, reached a fever pitch shortly after Kid Rock was announced to perform at Turning Point USA, parallel to Bad Bunny’s performance at the Super Bowl halftime show.
Though the numbers speak for themselves. The Puerto Rican singer’s show drew far more eyeballs than the country musician’s performance.
Despite this, a conservative segment frames Rock’s show as a “stunning culture war victory” over Bunny.
For Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist, this is far from the truth. In his tweet, he explains why.
He begins by calling out what he describes as an “outrage cycle” from conservatives each year over the Super Bowl halftime show, which he says had no impact on the NFL.
“The problem with the annual conservative outrage cycle over the Super Bowl halftime show is that it has no impact on the NFL and makes conservatives look weak and left behind,” he pens.
Entry of Rock, Rufo argues, doesn’t change anything. On the contrary, it raises the risk of “[t]he ghettoization of conservative culture,” adding, “Kid Rock does not change this calculus—he reinforces it.”
The activist further adds, “I’m a right-winger, I love country music, but c’mon, Kid Rock did not ‘mog’ Bad Bunny.”
Rufo also lays out a harsh reality for those who believe Rock bested Bunny.
“This wasn’t a ‘stunning culture war victory,’” he claims. “Advertisers are not going to ‘flock away from the Super Bowl. Conservatives have started lying to themselves and to their audiences—not good.”
It is worth noting that there has been outrage in some sections of the conservative community ever since it was announced that Bunny would headline the Super Bowl halftime show.
