Kid Rock has denied lip syncing for his alternative Super Bowl halftime show.
The 55-year-old rap rock turned country star was met with backlash from people watching his All American Halftime Show – which was organised by right wing political group Turning Point USA – but he insisted there was a “syncing issue” with the audio during his 1999 track Bawitdaba.
He said in a video on X: “That song is chaos. The first thing is, if I was ever going to lip sync — which I wouldn’t — that would be the last song I would ever do it to.
“We performed this song every night on tour since 1998 since the day it was released. Turning Point USA sent me a first cut [after] we taped it and my comment was, ‘the sync is off.’
“They were trying to line it up … It was very difficult for them, because somebody clearly wasn’t super familiar with the song. It could have been done had we had more time.”
Kid Rock insisted he had “nothing but good things to say” about Turning Point USA and the production team, insisting that “nobody’s perfect every time”.
He continued: “Some of you in the entertainment world can look at that and be like, ‘the sync is off.’
“But they had to lie and say, ‘Oh, he was lip syncing.’ Then people amplify this all over the internet. And I know most people don’t even care, but the certain people just keep repeating it, so people think it’s a fact.
“And this goes on on both sides. They did it to Bad Bunny, in his defence, when … he was on Saturday Night Live… they [claim lip syncing] far too often.”
Meanwhile, he has also criticised the NFL for choosing Bad Bunny the official Super Bowl halftime show, which featured the Grammy Award-winning rapper performing Spanish-language songs and extravagant choreography.
Kid Rock told The Ingraham Angle: “I didn’t understand any of it. I saw there’s a lot of dancers and a lot of big to-do stuff.
“And, you know, he said he wanted to have a dance party; it looked like he had one.
“Not my cup of tea, but I don’t fault that kid for doing the Super Bowl, getting in front of a global audience.
“I fault the NFL for putting him in that position and Turning Point for having to come out and have an alternative for people to watch. You know, it’s just – poor kid.”
Bad Bunny, 31, took to the stage at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California halfway through the Seattle Seahawks’ game with the New England Patriots and performed some of his biggest hits, including Tití Me Preguntó, MONACO and BAILE INoLVIDABLE.
The artist – whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio – also welcomed guest performers such as Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin onto the stage during his set, which also featured cameos from the likes of Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, Karol G and Jessica Alba.