Explaining the Right is a weekly series that looks at what the right wing is currently obsessing over, how it influences politics—and why you need to know.
Right-wing advocacy group Turning Point USA on Monday announced the slate of performers who will appear at its “alternative” Super Bowl halftime show. The event is meant to shift attention from Sunday’s official halftime show and its headliner, the pro-immigrant Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, who was Spotify’s top artist of 2025 with 19.8 billion streams.
On the other side of the field, the so-called All-American Halftime Show’s most well-known performer is Kid Rock, who started out in the early 1990s and hasn’t had a top 10 single in 24 years. The rest of the performers: Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett.
Who?
Fame-obsessed President Donald Trump and his minions have nothing to brag about when it comes to the star power of “celebrities” on the right.
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Among the more notable figures who stand 10 toes down for the GOP: Dean Cain, best known for a few years as Superman on TV, now shilling for ICE; Gina Carano, who was fired by Disney for comparing criticism of conservatives to the Holocaust; and Jon Voight, an award-winning actor who has spent the past couple of decades promoting conspiracy theories and Trump worship.
Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk, left, and Nicki Minaj stand on stage during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2025 on Dec. 21.
Every once in a while, conservatives attract a celebrity who is legitimately, currently famous, like rapper Nicki Minaj. But even then, Minaj’s past support of allegedly abusive men puts her praise of Trump in context.
Overall, conservative celebrity is a usually low-wattage affair—especially in contrast to the actual stars who support the Democratic Party and liberal causes.
Bruce Springsteen released a new hit single on Jan. 28 in support of anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis. Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election while Trump whined about how much he hates the global pop star. Swift’s fellow singers Beyonce and Lady Gaga appeared at Harris rallies. Oprah Winfrey backed Harris, and even more famously backed former President Barack Obama in 2008.
And Obama had the voice of God himself, legendary actor Morgan Freeman, telling America in a campaign ad why the incumbent president should be reelected in 2012.
Perhaps the best example of this dichotomy occurred in 2016, when GOP presidential candidate Trump said the Republican National Convention would be star-studded, but it was the Democratic National Convention with Hillary Clinton that attracted actual celebrities.
Trump had former TV star Antonio Sabato Jr., while Democrats had Meryl Streep, Katy Perry, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in attendance, among others.
The conservative movement has spent decades complaining about Hollywood and celebrities, who they decry for being too left wing and “woke,” especially on social issues. Fox News pundit Tomi Lahren fumed at Grammy attendees and winners on Monday for speaking out about ongoing ICE abuses, insisting that “social justice warrior grandstanding bullshit” is “why no one watches this trash anymore.”
But actor Don Cheadle got to the heart of the matter in his response to Lahren, writing, “But if ‘no one watches’ then how did you…”
The creative community naturally supports the arts while conservatives attack them. Diversity is key to the creation of film, music, television, the visual arts and more—so by nature, creative people support racial and gender diversity. The right does not.
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The right wants to be in the “cool” creative club while attacking the very things it stands for. Winning an election has never made creatives fundamentally change who they are and what they believe in, and art is inherently political.
Conservatives are envious of liberalism’s broad appeal and star power, and that is why they attack. They want to emulate the left’s appeal to well-known people, but there just aren’t enough bigoted celebrities to go around.
That’s how you end up with a store-brand Super Bowl halftime show featuring washed-up Kid Rock and a bunch of people nobody has ever heard of