Unverified: Craigslist Ad Claiming $200 for Attendance at TPUSA Kid Rock Halftime Event

In a bizarre twist to the Super Bowl halftime show rivalry, claims circulated on social media that organizers behind Kid Rock’s alternative performance were paying people to attend. The alleged evidence: a screenshot of a Craigslist ad offering $200 to audience members.

The image, which went viral on Instagram on February 9, 2026, showed what appeared to be a Craigslist posting soliciting attendees for Kid Rock’s performance at Turning Point USA’s “All-American Halftime Show,” an alternative to the official NFL Super Bowl halftime show featuring Bad Bunny.

“Ha ha ha, they had to pay people to show up to the Kid Rock ‘alternative’ halftime show!” read the Instagram caption accompanying the screenshot.

However, fact-checkers at Lead Stories found significant inconsistencies in the alleged Craigslist listing when compared to authentic posts on the platform. When attempting to recreate the search path shown in the viral image, investigators noted that the actual Craigslist interface displays white boxes rather than the blue text shown in the screenshot. Additionally, searches using the exact keywords from the alleged posting yielded no matching active advertisements.

Further raising suspicions, none of the circulating versions of the screenshot included a specific URL – a standard feature of legitimate Craigslist listings that allows users to share direct links to advertisements.

The claim gained additional attention when California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office shared the screenshot on X (formerly Twitter) on February 8, the same day as Kid Rock’s performance. This official amplification likely contributed to the rapid spread of the unverified image across social media platforms.

Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit organization, had promoted their “All-American Halftime Show” as a patriotic alternative to the official NFL entertainment. The competing event was scheduled to air simultaneously with Bad Bunny’s performance at the Super Bowl, creating a politically charged viewing choice for audiences.

The controversy highlights the increasingly polarized nature of American entertainment and sports events, where even traditionally apolitical spectacles like the Super Bowl halftime show have become battlegrounds for cultural and political identity.

Lead Stories reached out to multiple parties involved, including Governor Newsom’s office, Kid Rock’s representatives, Turning Point USA, and Craigslist, but received no responses from any of these entities at the time of reporting.

The incident reflects a growing trend of misinformation surrounding high-profile events, where fabricated content can rapidly spread across social media platforms before fact-checking efforts can intervene. In politically charged environments, such unverified claims can reinforce existing narratives on both sides of the political spectrum.

Without any concrete evidence supporting the authenticity of the Craigslist posting – including the absence of a verifiable URL, inconsistencies in the platform’s design elements, and no confirmation from any of the involved parties – the claim that Turning Point USA paid people to attend Kid Rock’s alternative halftime show remains unsubstantiated.

As social media continues to serve as a primary source of information for many Americans, the incident serves as a reminder of the importance of digital literacy and source verification before accepting screenshots at face value, particularly when they align with existing political biases.