Bad Bunny is performing at the Super Bowl. Cry about it.
The announcement was made Sunday night by Apple Music, the NFL and Roc Nation. As expected, the loudest voices were the negative ones. Even Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called out the choice, suggesting Jason Aldean to “bring some patriotism into a country that desperately needs it.”
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And by “patriotism” he means white, male and English only.
The irony, of course, is that the very people who constantly bemoan “cancel culture” and poke fun at “snowflakes” for being easily offended are now engaged in the loudest, most visible act of performative outrage, demanding the cancellation of an artist whose success is simply outside of their cultural comfort zone.
Bad Bunny performs on Friday, February 14, 2025 on ‘SNL50: The Homecoming Concert’. (Theo Wargo/Peacock)
Still, it’s difficult to think of a current performer in any language more successful than Bad Bunny. He was the most-streamed artist on Spotify from 2020-2022, the second in 2023 and third in 2024. In Houston, his appeal is just as immense, where he’s been among the top five most-streamed artists for the last several years. He’s earned 15 top 10 singles on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, an incredible feat for an artist who performs primarily in Spanish. Two of those songs – “I Like It” with Cardi B and J Balvin and “Un x100to” with Grupo Frontera – achieved the kind of cultural dominance that goes beyond music and seeps into every aspect of pop culture.
In just a few years, I’ve watched Bad Bunny graduate from Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land’s 6,000-plus capacity to multiple nights for tens of thousands of fans at Minute Maid Park and Toyota Center through an awe-inspiring mix of hard work, opportunity and celebration of identity. It’s the American dream, reclaimed in his own image, which is really the essence and expression of what it means.
Fans hold up a Puerto Rican flag while Bad Bunny performs at Amalie Arena on May 21, 2024, in Tampa, Florida. (Jefferee Woo/TNS)
That level of success underscores the commercial and culture force of the 65 million Latinos in the U.S. who make up nearly one-fifth of the population. And it speaks to the large percentage who don’t speak Spanish but identify with their culture through music, fashion and food. Almost 80% of U.S. Hispanics say it is not necessary to speak Spanish in order to be considered Hispanic, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. More than 60% report speaking Spanglish, a combination of Spanish and English, at least sometimes.
In 1992, Gloria Estefan became the first Latin artist to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. She returned in 1999 but Latinos have since been few and far between. The Super Bowl XXXIV halftime show in 2000 featured Christina Aguilera and Enrique Iglesias singing a maudlin Disney ballad. For her 2020 performance, Jennifer Lopez wore a cape featuring the American and Puerto Rican flags and featured children performing inside cages. That show also featured Shakira and Bad Bunny.
Bad Bunny performs at the Minute Maid Park, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, in Houston. (Marie D. De Jesús/Staff photographer)
This is the perfect moment, then, for a Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show, especially because of what is currently happening to so many immigrants in the U.S. In an interview with i-D, Bad Bunny said there were “many reasons” he didn’t tour the mainland U.S. behind his album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” including “the issue of – like, fucking ICE could be outside. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
That decision cost him millions of dollars in revenue and has become one of the megaphone points amid all the criticisms. But they’re missing the point. By accepting the halftime show as his sole mainland U.S. performance this year, it becomes the ultimate act of visibility, a 15-minute cultural reclamation. No assimilation. No concessions. Resistance by way of reggaeton, salsa and dembow on the biggest stage in the world, on a platform that represents the most mainstream of U.S. culture.
FILE – Bad Bunny performs during his first show of his 30-date concert residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo, File) (Alejandro Granadillo/Associated Press)
“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself. It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown. This is for my people, my culture and our history,” Bad Bunny said in a statement. “Ve y dile a tu abuela, que seremos el halftime show del Super Bowl.”
So pass the chicken wings and coquito.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
