Since being announced as the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show headliner, Puerto Rican reggaetonero Bad Bunny has been ruthlessly attacked by conservative pundits who are eager to move away from the dead-end discourse of deplatforming Jimmy Kimmel and shift focus to an easier target that looks, sounds, and feels more foreign to them.
Never mind that Bad Bunny has become one of the world’s biggest music superstars in fewer than 10 years since his debut album X 100pre — reaching huge engagement, touring, and streaming numbers. He rival acts like Taylor Swift, Drake, Billie Eilish, and The Weeknd — but does so in a language that isn’t English.
Bad Bunny’s critics have spent the past few days trying to decide how they identify. For instance, they’ve had some fun with social media posts like “Who is Bad Bunny?” trying to mock the artist as a nonsensical choice to headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show. And yet, these folks also seem determined to identify as preeminent Bad Bunny experts as they insist on sharing past performances, interview quotes, song lyrics, and even fashion choices to further a narrative that not only fails to prove any point, but also exposes that this is all about an irrational and problematic hatred of Latinos.
Let’s break down (and refute) a few of the main criticisms leveled against the Puerto Rican performer.
“Bad Bunny shouldn’t headline the Super Bowl after refusing to tour the U.S.”
Bad Bunny just finished a 30-date residency in Puerto Rico titled No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí, which reportedly boosted the island’s economy by an estimated $400 million, as reported by The New York Times. Next up, the artist will embark on the Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour that will reach 19 countries across 45 scheduled concerts (so far) and kicks off in November. This isn’t an artist that hates the world, or that the world hates. In fact, earlier this year, Bad Bunny performed at the 50th anniversary event of Saturday Night Live, then returned as a musical guest for an episode of the show, and has visited the U.S. several times.
The reason Bad Bunny isn’t touring the continental U.S. (because one shouldn’t ignore the fact that Puerto Rico is, indeed, in the United States) is out of fear that his fans — a large portion of them being Latinos — could be targeted by ICE raids. Bad Bunny’s concerns with his fans attending his concerts has nothing to do with the overall attendees who will be present at the Super Bowl, which is why his headlining set at the Halftime Show is much more similar to his SNL performances and other U.S. appearances earlier this year, and doesn’t bear any similarity to his specific tour.
“Bad Bunny is pushing ‘woke’ ideology.”
Though I wish this weren’t true, as of this writing, the top searches related to Bad Bunny on Google Trends are all about whether the singer is a drag queen or a crossdresser. Spoiler: He’s not.
Top 5 rising ‘related queries’ when searching ‘Bad Bunny’ on Google Trends
Top 5 rising ‘related queries’ when searching ‘Bad Bunny’ on Google Trends.Google Trends, screenshot by Out.com
The reason why Bad Bunny is admired and beloved by so many people in the LGBTQ+ community is that he’s spent many years trying to change the “machista” archetype that has ruled reggaeton as a musical genre for decades. In other words, he’s been trying to help the fight against misogyny, racism, homophobia, and transphobia within the Latino community — a point that keeps getting lost among U.S. audiences.
For example, Bad Bunny released a music video for “Caro” in 2019 where he was seen getting his nails done and featured model Jazmyne Joy as an alter-ego version of himself who lip synced his lyrics. You know, like Beyoncé lip syncing Jay-Z’s verses in the “Upgrade U” music video in 2009, or Colman Domingo lip syncing Sabrina Carpenter’s lyrics in the music video of “Tears” in 2025.
In 2020, Bad Bunny released a video for “Yo Perreo Sola” in which he was in drag — once again defying gender norms within the Latino community for what would otherwise be another very “machista” music video. At the time, another video that went viral showed Bad Bunny in full drag kissing his girlfriend behind the scenes while filming that music video.
In one of his earliest performances at The Tonight Show, Bad Bunny wore a T-shirt paying tribute to Alexa Negrón Luciano, “a homeless transgender woman who was recently murdered in Puerto Rico,” as reported by Billboard.
Bad Bunny was also accused of “queerbaiting” after kissing a male dancer during a performance at the 2022 VMAs: Another criticism that fundamentally misunderstood the lyrics of the song and the reason why he did that gesture, as I wrote for Out back then.
“Bad Bunny hates Donald Trump.”
Every single reported quote from Bad Bunny against Trump has come from a place of reacting to policies pushed by the president, and having his speech protected under the First Amendment is something we’ve just collectively had to revisit as Kimmel was suspended from going on the air due to conservative uproar over the talk show host’s Charlie Kirk remarks.
Much like being concerned for fans being targeted by ICE raids while attending his concerts, Bad Bunny reacted to the very long delay in aid for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria with criticism and artistic expression like the song “Una Velita.”
Given how much talking and how little doing was going at the time, Bad Bunny also was seen wearing a shirt with the question: “¿Tú eres tuitero o presidente?” (“Are you a tweeter or a president?”).
The same thing happened when, at a Trump rally, a conservative comedian referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” Bad Bunny responded by sharing a video on social media — a truly stunning tribute to Puerto Rico as a beautiful place full of incredible, talented people, that doesn’t deserve to be referred to in such a manner — as a post that at no point mentioned Trump or the comedian who made that “joke.”
As an artist who’s made a career out of “show, don’t tell” through his lyricism and activism, I’m excited for Bad Bunny to show, not just tell an even larger audience who he is, and who he is not. What they will see is a performer who has used his platform and voice to advocate for his community and his country. And that’s as American as it gets.
Bernardo Sim is the deputy editor of Out.
Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit out.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. We welcome your thoughts and feedback on any of our stories. Email us at [email protected]. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of Out or our parent company, equalpride.
This article originally appeared on Out: Sorry, haters: Bad Bunny is the perfect 2026 Super Bowl headliner
RELATED
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
