It came across my attention that there will be two half time shows to choose from later today. Bad Bunny will lead the official NFL half time show and then there will be one hosted by Turning Point USA led by Kid Rock. Turning Point USA says theirs will be the more family friendly choice. (1.)
Really? What on earth are they thinking? How can Kid Rock be the “family friendly” anything? Now, NFL shows aren’t exactly supposed to be “family friendly”. They are there to keep a bunch of mostly drunk adults entertained while the teams regroup and rethink their strategy. I’m not a pro football fan. I prefer, or did before the whole transfer portal debacle started, college ball. I will probably watch the Olympic coverage rather than the game and as of this writing, I don’t even know which teams are playing. I’ll look later and decide. I might swap over from the Olympics and watch the show.
Which show? Well it will not be Turning Point USA’s show. Why? Because Kid Rock is a foul mouthed, rapper, who has an unhealthy fixation on the size of his dick. (In my opinion of course, I’m not up in his HIPAA) How pray tell, can that be considered “family friendly”? (2)
Let’s not be ingenuous. We all know this has way more to do with the politics of the current administration and its supporters than being family friendly. But we are going to talk music first.
Both performers rap, albeit with quite different styles. Both talk about sex. A LOT. Of course they do. Sex sells. It used to sell because it was forbidden. Now it sells because the truth is, humans like to have sex. A LOT. How else do you think all those families get made to begin with?
When I used Google Gemini to give me a number of times Kid Rock referred to his dick, it told me it was impossible to give a number. Bwahaha! Way to tell a white woman you have a small dick without actually saying that you are insecure about the size of your dick.
I asked it the same question of Bad Bunny’s lyrics. It brought back 4 references. He doesn’t seem to nearly as insecure about his dick. (queue canned laughter)
Both talk about drugs and alcohol. From the days of my youth, when school children were taught that alcohol IS a drug, drugs make up a large portion of popular culture. It proliferates our daily existence. We all know someone who descended into the depth of addiction and lost that battle.
There are differences. Kid Rock has almost 3 decades of recording history on Bad Bunny. He is established. People know his name. He raps in English. White people remember him as an alternative to the early hip hop and rap music that had been coming out of the black communities. Black communities that were viewed by my white parents as bastions of sin, drugs and poverty, of course caused by sin. And here we have to touch on politics. These were the communities where Reagan got his “welfare queen” stereotype, though the model for that stereotype was a white woman (3.) who was far more trouble than simply being a welfare fraud. However, division was pushing the Republican agenda even then, but rich versus poor didn’t sell as well as white versus black. So they created a black welfare queen to fit their marketing.
Bad Bunny is younger and appeals greatly to Hispanic listeners. He is Puerto Rico and his music reflects the culture he grew up in. He raps as I have said, about sex and drugs, but his style is more “progressive”. Meaning he leaves behind some of the norms of traditional masculinity. Oh the pearl clutching. (4) He is a critic of the Trump administration.
And there is the contrast. You have a old, white, English speaking, rapper whose lyrics come from a type of hard living county life, where men are supposed to rule and women are sluts or worse for actually having sex with them and teases if they won’t, up against the younger, non white, Spanish speaking, rapper whose lyrics reflect a man who espouses a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have sex and doesn’t take it as an insult if one says no.
Family friendly? Well, the type of family I grew up in, either would have gotten me banished if not unalived, or wishing I had been. But since I raised my kids as far opposite as I could get from my own raising, my opinion is this: Neither are particular family friendly, if “family friendly” includes no foul language, little sexuality and no gratuitous violence.
If not? Then neither are “family friendly”. What does that leave us with?
Politics and racism. Bad Bunny is critical of Trump administraion. When Turning Point USA did a survey to see what their audience would like to listen to the first selection was “anything in English”. (5) After this week’s racist so called “king of the jungle” video posted on tRump’s Truth Social account (6) among other incidents in this last year, it seems politics and racism are running neck and neck to see who gets the views.
“Family friendly” is just an excuse. The NFL just wants views and dollars.
- https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/turning-point-usa-all-american-halftime-show-conservative-halftime-show-alternative-family-friendly-halftime-concert-turning-point-usa-cultural-initiative-charlie-kirk-halftime-show-criticism-andrew-kolvet-interview
- https://genius.com/artists/Kid-rock/albums
- https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/20/255819681/the-truth-behind-the-lies-of-the-original-welfare-queen
- https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-bad-bunny-is-making-history-while-celebrating-puerto-rican-culture-on-the-world-stage
- https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/3-words-turning-point-usa-171011354.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANFXSMQcTSSbSYrQcwbt4E5vHjvJVKNGOcJexKeiQi0JSEMh7NdIKblOM6TPg57SGluiVPMsfUtGLXLxXe5Y-c0QoE78Up2iyw23j882bWr3G937M20pSemqE5K_jpCofqCmZQ4nbdDRY6A8iPyIY3OkfBRrjOK5F8-pWvxVycN5
- https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/3-words-turning-point-usa-171011354.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANFXSMQcTSSbSYrQcwbt4E5vHjvJVKNGOcJexKeiQi0JSEMh7NdIKblOM6TPg57SGluiVPMsfUtGLXLxXe5Y-c0QoE78Up2iyw23j882bWr3G937M20pSemqE5K_jpCofqCmZQ4nbdDRY6A8iPyIY3OkfBRrjOK5F8-pWvxVycN5
- https://genius.com/Rodney-dangerfield-rappin-rodney-lyrics
What on Earth are They Thinking? 
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