Country music fans are doing what they can to try and change the Super Bowl halftime show.
Bad Bunny, a global superstar and Puerto Rican rapper whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has been in a news a lot since the NFL tapped him to headline the Super Bowl LX halftime show on February 8. There were a lot of rumors as to who would grace the Super Bowl Halftime stage, with many assuming that Taylor Swift would be chosen since she’s been so intertwined with the NFL in the past couple of years.
Some even thought that this would be the year that country music would return to the big game’s biggest stage, but that didn’t happen either. Instead, the NFL went with Bad Bunny.
To be clear, it’s not like that decision came out of nowhere, and isn’t backed up by the numbers. Bad Bunny is undoubtedly a musical powerhouse when it comes to global reach and popularity. He boasts 77.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and he made history when he became the first ever artist to capture the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with an all-Spanish language project.
You’ve likely even seen him as he’s ventured into an acting career, starring in films like Bullet Train, Caught Stealing, and Happy Gilmore 2. He’s also had a multitude of appearances in the WWE, and hosted the first episode of this season of Saturday Night Live.
There are some people out there that want no part of a Bad Bunny halftime show, so they are taking matters into their own hands.
Country music fans have taken to Change.org to get signatures on petitions that pose the idea of having “King of Country” George Strait replace Bad Bunny as the halftime performer. Thousands of people have signed their names to support the petitions that are created by country music fans (George Strait isn’t organizing these… as far as we know).
And one petition on Change.org described the purpose of the petition as the following:
“The Super Bowl halftime show should unite our country, honor American culture, and remain family-friendly, not be turned into a political stunt. Bad Bunny represents none of these values; his drag performances and style are the opposite of what families expect on football’s biggest stage. Again, George Strait embodies unity, tradition, and the timeless American music that truly deserves the 2026 Super Bowl spotlight.
Join us in urging the NFL and related decision-makers to honor American music heritage by selecting George Strait for the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. Sign this petition to make your voice heard and support a halftime performance that celebrates the legacy of American country music.”
Will anything ever come from these petitions? Probably not. But their presence does show that there’s a yearning for country music to take the Super Bowl’s biggest stage once more. It’s been a long time since a country music artist was the headliner for the Super Bowl halftime show… over 20 years to be more specific. Shania Twain was the halftime show in 2003, and before that, it was the iconic 1994 show that featured the likes of Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, and The Judds at the Georgia Dome.
And stories – both real, fake and hopeful – about country music artists being involved in the Super Bowl have been circulating a lot on social media.
Just last month, someone online used AI to craft a picture of Alan Jackson, Dolly Parton, George Strait, Vince Gill and Reba McEntire – alongside Charlie Kirk – and then stated that all of those country legends refused to come together to do a Charlie Kirk tribute at the 2026 Super Bowl.
That’s not true… and neither is the lineup for a Turning Point U.S.A. alternative halftime show. The Charlie-Kirk-founded organization does have plans to put a show to rival the NFL’s together, but haven’t made any announcement about who might play it.