Because even music has turned into team sports, Turning Point USA has announced that it will be hosting its own Super Bowl halftime show in protest of the NFL’s official headliner, Bad Bunny.

The right-wing organization, which was founded by the late Charlie Kirk, posted about its “All American Halftime Show” on social media, writing, “Performers and event details coming soon.” The post links to a survey that allows people to select which music genres they would like to be featured at the big game, including “Anything in English,” “Americana” and “Worship.” (It also lists “Hip Hop,” despite Kirk once advocating for people to “stop listening to rap music and this degenerate hip-hop stuff.”)

It’s unclear how and where Turning Point’s counterprogramming will be aired, but viewers would have to turn off the Super Bowl broadcast and switch to the “All American Halftime Show,” which will celebrate “faith, family and freedom,” according to the website.

The announcement that Bad Bunny, one of the most famous music stars in the world, will perform at the 2026 Super Bowl sparked an immediate right-wing backlash. Government officials began weighing in on the Puerto Rican artist’s Spanish-language music catalog and his recent comments about skipping the United States on his last tour due to fears about his fans encountering ICE agents.

Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, said immigration enforcement agents would be “all over” the Super Bowl because, in her belief, the only people who should be attending the game are “law-abiding Americans who love this country.” House Speaker Mike Johnson said booking Bad Bunny was “a terrible decision,” suggesting that Lee Greenwood would attract a “broader audience,” despite the 1980s country icon boasting fewer than 500,000 Spotify listeners compared with Bad Bunny’s 80 million. Even Donald Trump called the Bad Bunny selection “absolutely ridiculous” despite admitting “I’ve never heard of him.” The hosts of “The Charlie Kirk Show” also slammed Bad Bunny on a recent episode of the conservative talk program, which continued after Kirk’s death. (After he was assassinated in September while debating college students in Utah, Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, assumed the role of CEO of Turning Point USA.)

During his “Saturday Night Live” monologue on Oct. 4, Bad Bunny mocked conservative pundits for the backlash surrounding his Super Bowl performance. He delivered some heartfelt remarks in Spanish, thanking his fans and acknowledging Latinos’ contributions in the U.S. Then, in English, he quipped: “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.”

The Super Bowl will take place on Feb. 8, 2026.

There will be no end to the war in Gaza if Hamas does not hand over all 48 living and deceased hostages and completely disarm per the terms of the agreement finalized overnight between Hamas and Israel, Jerusalem’s ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, warned in an interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday. 

The Israeli government is expected to approve the peace deal first presented by President Donald Trump late last month, and then agreed to by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu. 

But concerns remain over Hamas’ commitment and ability to return all the bodies of the deceased hostages within a 72-hour window beginning Friday night local time, as directed under the terms of the agreement.

TRUMP PEACE DEAL TRIGGERS 72-HOUR COUNTDOWN FOR HAMAS TO RELEASE 48 HOSTAGES FROM GAZA

“They have an obligation to return everyone in 72 hours. Hopefully we’re going be able to keep everything within that framework,” Leiter said when asked about concerns over Hamas’ ability to immediately hand over all the deceased hostages. “There are some glitches that we have to deal with, and this issue is one of them. 

“But we need to see all the bodies back, and I don’t think we’re going to be able to move forward until we do have everyone,” he added.

Leiter said a part of the problem is Hamas did not diligently keep track of where it left the bodies of the deceased, but warned that until every body is returned, Israel will not withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip.

An international task force involving the U.S., Qatar and Egypt has been formed to help Israel recover the bodies of the deceased, but the White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions regarding what role the U.S. will play or if there will be American boots on the ground aiding the search. 

An agreement was reached overnight after mediators from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar worked for days with Hamas and Israeli officials to hash out details of the peace agreement, though it remains unclear if there were any changes made to Trump’s original 20-point plan. 

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, left, and Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., speak to members of the media following a meeting with US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, not pictured, at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., US, on Tuesday, July 8, 2025.  (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

FATHER OF YOUNGEST AMERICAN HOSTAGE HOLDS OUT SLIVER OF HOPE AFTER TRUMP SECURES GAZA PEACE DEAL

Reports over the weekend suggested Hamas objected to the calls that it completely disarm – though in exchange it would also be granted amnesty and a path out of Gaza to an accepting third party nation should they choose to leave – and Leiter was unable to shed light on whether Hamas has formally conceded to the disarmament terms. 

“We hope it proceeds according to the president’s plan,” Leiter said. “We assume, having long experience with Hamas and Islamic Jihad and these terrorist organizations, that there are going to be glitches along the way.

“Look, they’re going down. This is basically a surrender on Hamas’s part. They don’t like it one bit, and they’re going to do whatever they can to try to show that they’re still relevant,” the ambassador warned. 

People gather in Hostages Square during a rally as a participant displays a sign listing hostages’ names following the Israel-Hamas peace deal. (Dana Reany/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Disarmament is not a part of the first phase, which involves the complete return of all hostages, the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops to a designated line as agreed to by Israel and Hamas, and the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 of whom are serving life sentences for terrorist offenses, including murder. 

The second phase would involve further withdrawal of Israeli forces in coordination with the complete disarmament of Hamas and demilitarization of the enclave. An international “peace body” headed by Trump would also be established to begin the process of rebuilding the Gaza Strip. 

“We’ve put all the focus now on the first phase,” Leiter said, while acknowledging that Hamas has made comments suggesting it will not disarm and the second phase of a peace deal could once again collapse.  

A smoke plume billows following Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip as seen from northwest of Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, on Oct. 9, 2025.  (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“But that’s part of the plan – that’s very clearly part of the president’s plan. That was the goal set out by Prime Minister Netanyahu from the outset, that Hamas is disarmed, that Gaza is de-radicalized and demilitarized. 

“We can’t go back into a situation where we have Jihadi militants sitting at our border, or else we haven’t accomplished anything,” the ambassador said. “This is performance-based. They disarm, they are disarmed if necessary, and then Israel withdraws.”

The meeting was supposed to be the prelude to the purchase of Finnish icebreaker ships.

But as United States President Donald Trump welcomed Finland’s President Alexander Stubb to the Oval Office on Thursday, he veered into a discussion of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) — and his ongoing feud with one of its members, Spain.

At a NATO summit in June, Spain was the most prominent holdout against Trump’s push to increase defence spending among member states.

Trump has long sought for all NATO members to commit 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to building up their military assets. But Spain successfully pushed for an exemption at June’s meeting, allowing its expenditures to remain around the previous benchmark of 2 percent.

That resistance lingered on Trump’s mind at Thursday’s meeting, as he discussed the US commitment to NATO with Stubb.

“As you know, I requested that they pay 5 percent, not 2 percent,” Trump said of the NATO members.

“And most people thought that was not gonna happen. And it happened virtually unanimously. We had one laggard. It was Spain. Spain. You have to call them and find out: Why are they a laggard?”

He then mused about taking retribution: “They have no excuse not to do this, but that’s all right. Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly.”

It was a bitter note in an otherwise friendly meeting with Stubb, whom Trump hosted in March at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Since his first term as president, Trump has wavered in his public comments about NATO, at times embracing the alliance and, at other moments, rejecting it as “obsolete”.

But seated next to Stubb and Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Trump took a decidedly enthusiastic approach to defending Finland, one of the newest members of NATO. It joined the alliance in April 2023, followed by Sweden less than a year later.

Reporters at Thursday’s Oval Office meeting pressed Trump about what he might do if Russia expands its war in Ukraine to other countries in Europe.

In Finnish politics, the spectre of Russian interference looms large: The former Soviet Union invaded Finland in the 1930s, and since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, relations between the two countries have soured even further.

Finland closed its shared border with Russia in 2024, an international divide that stretches across 1,340 kilometres, or 841 miles.

“What if Russia and Vladimir Putin attacks Finland? Would you defend Finland?” one reporter asked Trump on Thursday.

Trump did not mince words in his reply. “I would. Yes, I would. They’re a member of NATO.”

He nevertheless cast doubt on the prospect of a Russian invasion under Putin.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t think he’s going to do that. I think the chances of that are very, very small,” he said, turning to Stubb. “You have a very powerful military, one of the best.”

When pushed to specify how he might defend Finland in case of an attack, Trump offered one word in reply: “Vigorously.”

Those warm remarks offered a stark contrast with his approach to Spain. In the wake of the June NATO summit, for instance, Trump called Spain’s position “hostile” and threatened its economy, pledging to make it pay “twice as much” in tariffs to the US.

“I think Spain is terrible, what they’ve done,” he told reporters, accusing the country of taking a “free ride” at other countries’ expense. “That economy could be blown right out of the water with something bad happening.”

NATO was founded with 12 original members and has since expanded to include 32. Spain joined in 1982. So far, no members have ever been expelled.