A MAGA influencer attempted to stage a political protest during the Super Bowl halftime show...without ever leaving her seat. Instead, she lost thousands of followers within minutes.
During the big game, Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny delivered a halftime performance centered on Latin American culture, unity, and love amid extreme political division. The joy and power on display in the halftime show left people talking long after the performance ended.
Not everyone, however, was happy with the NFL's choice of performer despite Puerto Rico being a U.S. territory.
Watching the "American halftime show" from the stands
Some conservatives complained about Bad Bunny’s appearance. Because of that backlash, Turning Point USA rolled out its own "All-American Halftime Show."
The alternative stream featured Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett, and was watched by around 6.1 million concurrent viewers, compared to Bad Bunny's projected 135 million, according to reports.
Amanda Vance (@amandacvance) attended the Super Bowl on Sunday in person. Instead of watching the actual halftime show, she pulled out her phone and filmed herself watching Turning Point USA’s stream from her seat, dancing and singing along to it.
She tweeted, "Watching the American halftime performance at the Super Bowl instead of Bad Bunny."
While she seemed pleased with the statement, the internet reacted fast. Eight minutes later, Vance returned to X with an update.
"Lost 1k followers in 2 minutes on Instagram because i didn’t watch bad bunny’s halftime performance," she wrote, while also sharing her Instagram handle.
On Instagram, criticism piled up quickly. Because of the volume, she turned off comments on the original Reel. However, commenters simply moved elsewhere. On her other videos, users spammed replies with Spanish-language recipes and jokes.
Commenter @rigoeatstacos wrote, "I'm just here to read the hateful comments.. They ate.."
Social media reactions mocked the stunt
Over on X, reactions appeared harsher and less filtered. "You can't boycott something you're already attending you dumba**," @CocoaFox023 tweeted, racking up over 830,000 likes.
Meanwhile, @antscope added, "Wow this is probably one of the more embarrassing things I’ve seen in my life." Others focused on the optics. "This is dumb because you still gave the NFL your money," @MichaelMatchone pointed out.
One person, @itskathryndunn, said they unfollowed Vance directly. They explained, "personally it was because i thought it was performative as f*ck for you to set up a phone to record yourself 'not watching' a halftime performance (that you were literally at) and now I have your band of idiots sending ME (a white american lol) threats of deportation??"
Some folks mocked her seat location. "Not like you could’ve seen bad bunny in those nose bleeds anyways," @monetaryfungi joked. Similarly, @kirawontmiss added, "you were sitting in the clouds… you couldn’t see sh*t anyway."
"I dont think there’s a better metaphor for maga than ultimately being outnumbered and drowned out by a far better culture," @AkilahObviously wrote.
"Everyone sitting near you thinks you are an obnoxious a**hole," @TokyoOnTheRocks told her. "To pay for your seats and get stuck next to this person… Jesus, what bad luck."
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s newsletter here.
