A sports bar owner has been accused of racism and deluged with one-star reviews after airing Turning Point USA’s Super Bowl halftime show alongside Bad Bunny‘s official performance.
Danielle Jurinsky says she was just trying to give her customers what they wanted when she turned on TPUSA’s All-American Halftime Show at JJ’s Place in Aurora, Colorado, on Sunday.
The 41-year-old told the Daily Mail: ‘People were walking through the door and before they would even sit down to look at the menu, asking: Which halftime show are you going to be showing?’
Jurinsky said 80 percent of the patrons wanted to watch the TPUSA show, so she decided to screen it alongside Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime performance.
The mother-of-one, who has owned the bar for six years, is used to showing multiple sporting events at once and did not anticipate this would spark controversy.
‘I just put the TVs on half and half,’ Jurinsky explained. ‘I let Bad Bunny be on the sound for a little bit, and then I switched the sound to Turning Point.’
But the atmosphere turned sour. A group went to the jukebox, put money in, and started playing Bad Bunny songs in protest.
When the Super Bowl resumed and customers wanted the sound back on for the game, the pro-Bad Bunny group demanded their money back and hurled abuse at bar staff, accusing them of kowtowing to the white patrons.
Danielle Jurinsky says she was just trying to give her customers what they wanted when she turned on TPUSA’s All-American Halftime Show at JJ’s Place in Aurora, Colorado, on Sunday
Local Mexican singer Monica the Great uploaded a tirade on social media and the bar was soon swamped by one-star reviews on Yelp
‘These gals started calling me a racist,’ a stunned Jurinsky told the Daily Mail.
One of the women, local Mexican singer Monica the Great, uploaded a tirade on social media and the bar was soon swamped by one-star reviews on Yelp.
Monica had been at the bar with her boyfriend when the incident occurred.
About six people in total left the venue, and Jurinsky received around eight one-star reviews before she caught wind of what was happening and began reporting them.
‘F*** your racist ass bar tenders,’ Monica wrote on Instagram. ‘I didn’t even get a chance to watch the half-time because they accommodated the white racist people in the bar.’
She noted that ‘there was this nice white lady with glasses, she apologized a million times and gave us our money back’ – a reference to Jurinsky.
Jurinsky told the Daily Mail: ‘I was very nice, and I refunded the money, and they left. But then this gal put up this post, and all of a sudden I started getting these one-star reviews on Yelp.
‘People who hadn’t even been to my establishment were seeing this gal’s Instagram post and were giving me one-star reviews. I got so upset.’
Bad Bunny performs in the Apple Music Halftime Show during the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, at Levi’s Stadium on February 8 in Santa Clara, California
Kid Rock and Gabby Barrett performing at Turning Point USA’s All-American Halftime Show
She shared her own side of the story on X and has since received a flood of positive reviews, as well as donations and gift card purchases.
Trolls have even accused Jurinsky of manufacturing the entire story to generate five-star ratings.
‘I had to refund money. I had to tolerate bad reviews,’ Jurinksy said. ‘All of these people who are calling me a liar, there’s nothing I can say. I’m not lying. This girl put this video up, and this is what happened.’
Monica has since attacked Jurinsky despite originally admitting that she treated her and her friends with kindness.
‘Turns out the lady that I tagged, that helped us is the owner and is also racist? Very MAGA. Maybe she just wanted us out?’ she wrote on Instagram.
Jurinsky, a Republican voter who previously served on Aurora’s city council, said there was nothing political about her decision to switch to the Turning Point show.
The USAF veteran said she only did so because customers asked for it – she had not advertised the bar was going to show the TPUSA event nor is it known for being a political establishment.
‘Probably 75 percent of the people who come through the doors, they have no idea what the political views of the owner are,’ Jurinsky said.
TPUSA’s halftime show was organized as counter-programming to the official Super Bowl LX halftime show, which featured Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny.
The TPUSA show, streamed online, featured country artists Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, Gabby Barrett, and Kid Rock, and was promoted as a patriotic alternative by the conservative organization.
The event, which was dedicated to its late founder Charlie Kirk, drew at least 20 million views across social media platforms.
Bad Bunny’s performance sparked controversy after he displayed Puerto Rican flags prominently during his set, which some critics, including Donald Trump, condemned as inappropriate. The President called it ‘one of the worst ever.’
Monica has been contacted for comment.