In The Know

Kid Rock responds to Conan O’Brien’s ‘alternate Oscars’ joke

by Michael Bartiromo - 03/17/26 3:43 PM ET

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(NEXSTAR) – Kid Rock wasn’t a fan of Conan O’Brien’s “alternate Oscars” joke from Sunday’s Academy Awards.

The joke, which O’Brien made during his opening monologue, poked fun at Turning Point USA’s decision to stage its own “All-American” alternative to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX half-time show in February. The lineup for Turning Point USA’s pre-taped event included Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett.

“I should warn you, tonight could get political,” O’Brien told the audience. “And if that makes you uncomfortable, there’s an alternate Oscars being hosted by Kid Rock. It’s at the Dave & Buster’s down the street. Lotta tickets for that.”

Kid Rock, aka Robert Ritchie, said Monday that he wasn’t amused by O’Brien’s remark.

“I love a good joke, even when I am the butt of it, unfortunately this was not a very good one,” wrote the “Bawitdaba” singer on X. He then took the opportunity to plug the upcoming concert dates on his “Freedom 250” tour.

Turning Point USA had announced plans to put on its “All-American” half-time show in October, shortly after Bad Bunny was announced as the headliner for Super Bowl LX’s half-time performance. At the time, a survey that appeared on the Turning Point website asked respondents to select the musical genres they wanted to hear during the show, one of which was “anything in English.”

In the lead up to the performance, Kid Rock also appeared to criticize Bad Bunny’s upcoming performance as un-American, saying, ‘He’s said he’s having a dance party, wearing a dress, and singing in Spanish? Cool. We plan to play great songs for folks who love America.”

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show was ultimately watched by 128.2 million viewers, ESPN reported, according to Nielsen. Turning Point USA’s show, which was streamed on YouTube, garnered an estimated 6 million concurrent viewers, The New York Times reported.

Nexstar’s Russell Falcon contributed to this report.

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