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The post Bad Bunny Headlining the Super Bowl Is About More Than Politics \u2014 It\u2019s About Money<\/a> appeared first on Consequence<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sunday night, during a pretty fun Packers\/Cowboys game that ultimately blue-balled those who stayed for the end, the NFL, Apple Music, and Roc Nation announced the next Super Bowl halftime performer: Latin hip-hop superstar and Happy Gilmore caddy Bad Bunny. And yet, despite it making quite a bit of sense on paper, the decision quickly sparked weird political discourse, because of course it did. Here\u2019s the thing that conversation misunderstands \u2014 the National Football League and its partners\u2019 choice wasn\u2019t motivated by politics; it was motivated by the almighty dollar.<\/p>\n For the few whose social media timelines haven\u2019t yet completely deteriorated, MAGA has had a less-than-enthused response to the announcement. (Or, as one Fox News<\/a> article put it, \u201cthe choice didn\u2019t exactly sit well with NFL fans,\u201d though, to our eyes, the blowback seems to be coming from a very specific subset of the league\u2019s audience.) In the wake of the news, blue checkmarks and Truth Social users have railed against \u201cBarack Obama\u2019s best friend\u201d Jay-Z<\/a> for giving Bad Bunny the gig, claimed he\u2019s irrelevant<\/a> (more on that later), and shared memes that express their disapproval<\/a>.<\/p>\n Get Super Bowl Tickets Here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Why such a dramatic reaction? Well, after remaining more or less apolitical on issues that don\u2019t directly impact his native Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny formally endorsed<\/a> Kamala Harris during her 2024 presidential campaign following Tony Hinchcliffe\u2019s infamous \u201cfloating island of garbage\u201d joke. Since then, the rapper has taken issue with the conduct of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), specifically avoiding<\/a> the continental United States on his \u201cDebi Tirar Mas Fotos World Tour\u201d out of fear that ICE would conduct raids outside of his shows.<\/p>\n \u201cThose motherfuckers are in these cars, RAV-4s,\u201d he said<\/a> earlier this year, reacting to footage of law enforcement officials seemingly detaining people while using unmarked vehicles on Avenida Pontezuela in Carolina, Puerto Rico. \u201cThey came here\u2026 Sons of bitches, instead of leaving the people alone and working there.\u201d<\/p>\n He remains far less of an expressly political figure than, say, Bruce Springsteen<\/a> or last year\u2019s halftime headliner<\/a> Kendrick Lamar. Still, the opinions were enough to mark him with the sign of woke for MAGA, who have broadly categorized the NFL\u2019s move as diversity-driven and as a slight against the Donald Trump administration. In reality, however, the pick seems much less influenced by Trump and his policies and much more influenced by the NFL\u2019s aggressive international expansion.<\/p>\n Because, while some anglophones might not realize it, Bad Bunny is monstrously famous. The Puerto Rican rapper was the most-streamed artist on Spotify<\/a> from 2020-2022 (he\u2019s remained within the top five in the years since), had the first Spanish-language album to top the Billboard 200 with El \u00daltimo Tour Del Mundo, and expanded his most recent tour (the one that skipped America) from 24 dates to 57. All the while, he\u2019s managed to climb to such a commercial peak while remaining a critical favorite (even nabbing some high spots on previous year-end lists<\/a> from Consequence). He has a legitimate claim to the title of \u201cone of the biggest artists in the world,\u201d and it\u2019s those last three words, \u201cin the world,\u201d that the NFL is banking on.<\/p>\n Consequence may earn an affiliate commission via purchases made through links on this article.<\/p>\n Popular Posts<\/p>\n