FIERY RESPONSE: Kid Rock hits back at critics accusing him of lip syncing halftime performance
Kid Rock performed at Turning Point USA’s halftime show streamed on YouTube during the Super Bowl. The event served as a patriotic alternative to the main Super Bowl halftime show headlined by Bad Bunny.
Kid Rock shared the stage with country artists Lee Brice, Brantley Gilbert, and Gabby Barrett, and headlined the performance of his song “Bawitdaba.” The show was pre-recorded but performed live.
Social media users accused Kid Rock of lip-syncing after clips showed the performance not perfectly matching the video feed. Kid Rock responded on X, stating there was no lip-syncing and blaming a production glitch in syncing the cameras to the live performance. He explained that “Bawitdaba” has been performed live every night on tour since its 1998 release, describing the song as chaotic and noting it would be the last track he would choose to lip-sync. In an accompanying video, he said the production team struggled with the sync because they were not fully familiar with the song, adding that he had flagged the issue in the rough cut and that more time could have fixed it. Still, he praised Turning Point USA and the production team.
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On Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” Kid Rock reiterated that the sync was off but confirmed he was rapping and jumping around the stage live while his DJ filled in parts. He announced plans to perform the song live again in his Nashville living room with his DJ and post the video to demonstrate it. Kid Rock criticized “haters and fake news” for amplifying the claims and noted similar rushed judgments have been made about other performers, such as Bad Bunny. He described the incident as a technical issue rather than any attempt to deceive.