Kid Rock addressed criticism about whether he pretended to sing live during his performance at a Turning Point USA event, which was shown as an alternative to the Super Bowl halftime show. He explained his side of the story in a recent interview.
During an interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News Monday, 55-year-old musician Robert James Ritchie – better known as a rapper and rocker – explained that what people thought was bad lip-syncing at the All American Halftime Show was actually a minor audio problem.
People criticized Kid Rock for seemingly lip-syncing, especially during his performance of “Bawitdaba.” However, he explained that the way he and his DJ share vocals on the song might have led to that impression.
Surprisingly, while trying to explain himself, Rock seemed to admit that the halftime show wasn’t actually live, despite how it looked. He confirmed reports that it had been pre-recorded.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Kid Rock’s representative for comment.
During an interview with Laura Ingraham, Chris Rock also shared his thoughts on Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show. He noted that it drew an estimated 135 million viewers, significantly more than the six million who watched the halftime show put on by Turning Point USA, based on early YouTube data.
As of Monday night, the video of TPUSA’s halftime show has been viewed more than 20 million times.
Chris Rock acknowledged the show was recorded beforehand while addressing accusations that he pretended to sing live. Variety had reported on Sunday that sources said the performance was pre-recorded in Atlanta.
Rock said he pointed out a synchronization problem with the footage after seeing an early version. He explained the event wasn’t live, and the issue was simply that the audio and video weren’t perfectly matched. He acknowledged they worked hard to fix it, but it proved to be a challenging task.
The musician explained that it was hard to match the sound to the video because he was moving around so energetically on stage.
He said his critics, particularly those on the left and in the mainstream media, were trying to damage his reputation by accusing him of faking his performance with pre-recorded vocals. He jokingly suggested that if he had used pre-recorded vocals, it would have actually solved the problem.
He explained that syncing everything would have been much simpler if the vocals had been recorded beforehand. It proved really challenging for the Turning Point production team – who he greatly praised – and made their job very difficult.
Chris Rock explained that his DJ, who didn’t seem enthusiastic about introducing him at halftime, actually helps with the rapping on the song “Bawitdaba.” He believes this might be why some viewers weren’t impressed with the performance.
Rock explained that his DJ occasionally adds vocals during the song whenever Rock needs a quick breath because of the fast tempo.
Rock mentioned his DJ was traveling to Nashville, and they were planning to record a live version of “Bawitdaba” at his house on Monday. They wanted to show fans how they split the singing on the song.
‘I’ll answer all the haters tomorrow,’ Rock vowed.
As soon as the TPUSA livestream wrapped up, my X feed exploded! Everyone was saying Kid Rock definitely lip-synced his performance, and it wasn’t even a good attempt at hiding it, apparently. It was pretty obvious to a lot of people watching.
Taking to X, one fan wrote: ‘Kid Rock doesn’t know how to lip sync his own songs’.
One fan expressed their disappointment online, calling Kid Rock’s halftime performance the worst lip sync they’d ever witnessed, and describing it as ‘sad’.
Fans noticed that Kid Rock seemed to be lip-syncing during his performance, with one asking, “Why does Kid Rock lip sync everything?” Another pointed out a noticeable mistake, questioning, “Is anyone going to mention the obvious lip sync error?”
Kid Rock performed at a halftime show billed as an alternative to the main event, featuring performances by Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett.
Originally, the show was scheduled to air on platform X, but just before it began, those plans fell apart and the broadcast was canceled.
Turning Point USA announced that they can’t stream their show, ‘The All-American Halftime Show,’ on X due to licensing issues. They’ll be posting the full show on their YouTube channel tonight around 8 PM Eastern Time.
While Rock hasn’t said whether he used pre-recorded vocals during his performance, many singers often use a backing track of their own voice to help them perform live.
Instead of simply playing back a pre-recorded vocal track, the singer’s live voice is blended with a pre-recorded version. This creates a fuller, richer sound and helps ensure the performance stays on beat and in tune.
Chris Rock hasn’t said whether he used a technique where vocals are recorded twice to create a fuller sound. However, people often think a singer is lip-syncing if their live vocals don’t perfectly match the pre-recorded track, or if there’s a slight pause in the live performance.
As a lifestyle expert, I’ve been following this closely! Beyond addressing the criticism he was receiving, the performer also made a comment about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show. It caused a bit of a stir, honestly, because some people were upset that the lyrics, which were mostly in Spanish, were translated for viewers.
“I couldn’t make sense of any of it,” Rock said to Ingraham, apparently meaning he didn’t understand the language used in the performance.
It wasn’t really my thing, but I can’t blame Bad Bunny for performing at the Super Bowl and reaching so many people, Rock explained. I do think the NFL shouldn’t have put him in that spot, and it was unfortunate that Turning Point felt the need to offer an alternative viewing option. He just seemed like a kid in a tough situation.
Ingraham interjected: ‘Poor rich kid.’
Rock agreed, adding, ‘Poor rich kid… I think he’s doing all right.’
Bad Bunny’s halftime show included surprise guest spots from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin.
Stars like Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, and Jessica Alba were spotted dancing on a set built on the field at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Although official Super Bowl halftime show viewership numbers from Nielsen aren’t available until Tuesday, the performance video on YouTube has already racked up over 47 million views as of Monday night.
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2026-02-10 18:12