An Anti-American Artist for an All American Event? Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Controversy
Photo from NFL.
Truth Frazier
Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican latin music artist with over 107 billion Spotify streams and three Grammy awards, is performing at the Super Bowl LX halftime show—and people are…happy? It's hard to say. America seems to be split in two because of the halftime show; some say Bad Bunny shouldn’t be taking the stage and others say that this performance will be one of the greatest halftime shows to be.
The controversy starts with Bad Bunny and his stance on performing in America. The artist has recently concluded his tour that followed the release of his album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, which did not include any dates in the United States. In an interview with i-D Magazine, Bad Bunny says that he would’ve liked to perform in the United States but “there was the issue of—like, [expletive] ICE could be outside. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.” He does go on in various instances to speak about his dislike for ICE, but in this same interview he states, “There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the U.S., none of them were out of hate.” It’s very apparent that the singer has his own views of ICE and the things the current government body is doing, but he also makes it apparent that he is not anti-American like some netizens say.
In this situation, there really is no “majority.” Go on social media and look up news about the halftime show, you’ll get one video saying yes and the next scroll, a video saying no. The public has very split views on what should have or what has come of the halftime show.
On one side is the narrative that “Bad Bunny doesn’t have any songs in English, so why should he perform at one of the most attended American events?.” Given that 77% of the United States speaks English, according to the 2024 U.S. Census Bureau, there is a good chance that the majority of Super Bowl attendees won’t fully understand the songs that Bad Bunny chooses to perform.
People making the argument that he shouldn’t be performing also tend to mention politics, talking about how he is “anti-American” and that he “hates” the Trump administration. It is true that Bad Bunny has spoken out about the actions of the Trump administration, but there is no official statement of hate or being anti-American from the artist.
As for the current government body and the President himself, they aren’t fully for it either. When asked about Bad Bunny performing, President Trump says, “I’ve never heard of him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know why they’re doing it. It’s like, crazy.”
A senior adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, Cory Lewandowski, says, “It’s so shameful they’ve decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much to represent them at the halftime game.” It’s apparent that there is a heavy dislike for the headliner of this year’s Super Bowl from those who are right leaning.
On the other hand, there is a large amount of Americans who love and support the halftime show decision. American political commentator and previous political candidate Krystal Ball says, “I don’t know why it’s a big deal, [he] seems like a great American artist,” in an interview with Toni Lahren, another political commentator. Toni Lahren then goes on to respond, “He’s not an American artist, but—” and was quickly corrected by Ball saying, “He’s Puerto Rican, that’s part of America, dear.”
One NFL fan quickly interviewed at the recent Los Angeles Rams game said “I think it’s great, I think the more international we can go, the better because this country was built on immigrants."
On the more business side of things, the NFL’s reasoning for choosing Bad Bunny doesn’t have anything to do with ICE, President Trump, or immigration. Jay-Z’s company, Roc Nation, that picks and secures a halftime artist every year has always aimed for diversity and highlighting American culture since they launched in 2019. This is seen in various other halftime shows like last year’s Super Bowl when Kendrick Lamar performed what was seemingly a way to deliver criticism to racism in America, or Shakira & J. Lo’s performance in 2020 that actually featured Bad Bunny in which he sang fully in Spanish. The NFL chose Bad Bunny with the intent to project a positive image of inclusivity and cultural values while also securing a global star.
Although people have a lot to say about the halftime show, it will still have millions of viewers and people tuning in from home all around the world as it does every year, English or Spanish lyrics aside.
