<\/p>\n
Is there a better inkblot test for America right now than reaction to Bad Bunny being the halftime act for Super Bowl LX?<\/p>\n
Soon after his name was announced, social media exploded into meritocracy debates as if the National Football League\u2019s decisions are culturally motivated and not commercially. Taylor Swift is the most streamed artist in Spotify history. Bad Bunny is No. 2. For a domestic sports league trying to grow its popularity globally, the rationale seems clear.<\/p>\n
And yet because he is a Puerto Rican who sings in Spanish, conservative talking heads must project outrage and offer listeners nonsensical objections.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so shameful they\u2019ve decided to pick somebody who seems to hate America so much to represent them at the halftime show,\u201d Corey Lewandowski, a longtime confidant of President Trump who currently advises the Department of Homeland Security, told conservative podcast host Benny Johnson. \u201cWe should be trying to be inclusive, not exclusive. There are plenty of great bands and entertainment people who could be playing at that show that would be bringing people together and not separating them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suggesting Bad Bunny hates America is an interesting take given Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917. The three-time Grammy winner also has four No. 1 albums on the very American Billboard pop charts and has already performed during halftime at the Super Bowl back in 2020 with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. The Federal Communications Commission received more than 1,300 complaints about the show that year with the vast majority being from parents complaining about the stripper pole and twerking of the women, not Bad Bunny\u2019s alleged hate of America.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know if Lewandowski and Johnson knew any of that before they started talking, but I get the feeling it wouldn\u2019t have mattered anyway. Once Lewandowski suggested ICE was going to be at the Super Bowl \u2014 an event that had an average resale ticket price of $8,600 in 2024 \u2014 it was clear their conversation wasn\u2019t about solving the immigration problem.<\/p>\n
It was clear they didn\u2019t know much about the history of halftime acts either.<\/p>\n
In 2006, a Super Bowl held in the heart of Detroit \u2014 the birthplace of Motown \u2014 rolled out the Rolling Stones, who are from London. In 2010, a Super Bowl in Miami \u2014 home of salsa and Afro-Cuban jazz \u2014 gave us the Who … who are also from England. In 2002, months after the 9\/11 terrorist attacks, U2 \u2014 a band from Dublin, Ireland \u2014 did the show. There is a decades-long precedent for non-Americans to headline the Super Bowl. Though, again, quick geography lesson: Puerto Rico is part of the United States and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n
Detractors like Lewandowski and Johnson want to make English being Bad Bunny\u2019s second language an indictment of his patriotism, as if growing up speaking English is a criterion for citizenship. It isn\u2019t and never has been. Perhaps instead of using their platform to stir fear at a time when calm is needed, the two could see next February\u2019s show as an opportunity to grow. Because honestly, it is so counterproductive to allow influential voices to gaslight the country into forgetting the milestones it\u2019s already crossed. \u201cLa Bamba\u201d by Los Lobos was sung in Spanish and hit No. 1 nearly 40 years ago. The only English in the K-pop hit \u201cGangnam Style\u201d is \u201chey, sexy lady,\u201d and that song made PSY an international sensation.<\/p>\n
Instead of making people fear Spanish at the Super Bowl, maybe encourage them to spend this NFL season learning something beyond \u201cgracias.\u201c Because in this world, there are people who choose to speak in English and there are people who have no other choice. Only one of those scenarios feels like freedom to me.<\/p>\n
That was the topic of discussion in the summer of 2008 after then-Sen. Barack Obama said this at a campaign stop in Georgia: \u201cUnderstand this, instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English \u2014 they\u2019ll learn English \u2014 you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time many conservatives \u2014 such as Tucker Carlson and Lou Dobbs \u2014 used those comments not as a prompt to debate the merits of Obama\u2019s remarks regarding U.S. education but as a weapon to attack him. They accused him of being divisive \u2014 when years ago Nelson Mandela said when you talk to someone \u201cin his own language, that goes to his heart.” In fact, Dobbs said \u201cinstead of diversity, he\u2019s talking about factionalism.\u201d Nonsense that sounds a lot like the echoes we hear from Lewandowski and Johnson today.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just a question of if our children should be bilingual; it\u2019s also about being curious about the world we live in. This NFL season has already featured games in Ireland and Brazil. Mexico City is an annual event. The league is in it for the bag. And eventually there will be a team based overseas where Spanish is heard, visiting teams carry passports and Bad Bunny is no stranger.<\/p>\n
YouTube:\u00a0<\/i>@LZGrandersonShow<\/u><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n