Why Bad Bunny’s polarizing Super Bowl halftime show felt like a slap at America

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show is officially behind us. Mercifully. What began with hype and outrage, and then more outrage, ended with a show most charitably described as polarizing and confusing for those who were not already Bad Bunny fans. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell promised that Bad Bunny would use the show to unite the world "in a really creative and fun way." It turns out that he was right. Most of the country, with the exception of some Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, was united in its revulsion over a show that was narrowly tailored to a niche audience despite being billed as inclusive and respectful of America.

The pre-show hype around Bad Bunny’s invitation to perform at this year’s Super Bowl began with his SNL demand that viewers "learn Spanish." He walked the dig back at the pre-Super Bowl press conference, but the sentiment ended up being true.

Then there was the online rumor that Bad Bunny would wear a dress during his halftime performance and honor Hispanic LGBTQ+ figures. That turned out to be a hoax.

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You’ve got to hand it to Bad Bunny and his marketing team. In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, they made sure to captivate people’s attention, whether positive or not.

The Super Bowl halftime show was a condensed version of the show he put on during his Puerto Rico residency. As America watched, Bad Bunny began with a walk through a sugar cane field. He passed by several scenes typical of Puerto Rico as he opened with "Tití Me Preguntó ("Auntie Asked Me")," such as a coconut water stand and a domino table. As he arrived at a house, viewers were treated to a mashup of several of his other hits before transitioning to a homage to ’90s and ’00s reggaeton and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it depiction of two dudes grinding.

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Had any of the show been in English, we would’ve heard a mostly positive message from Bad Bunny: "My name is Benito Martinez Ocasio. And if I’m here today at Super Bowl LX, it’s because I never, never stopped believing in myself. You should also believe in yourself. You’re worth more than you think. Believe me."

We then proceeded to the highlight of the show: Lady Gaga joining the salsa band in a version of "Die With a Smile" on a stage built to resemble the El Morro fortress in Old San Juan—the one moment where perhaps a majority of those present at Levi Stadium could sing along.

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But wait, there’s more. This segues into Bad Bunny’s "Baile Inolvidable (Unforgettable Dance)," "Nueva Yol (New York)," and a symbolic handover of his Grammy.

Up until this point, there wasn’t anything in the show that could be perceived as overtly anti-American. That changed when Ricky Martin began singing the chorus of "Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii (What Happened to Hawaii)," which translates to:

They want to take the rivers and the beaches away from me They want to take my neighborhood and for Grandma to go away No, don’t let go of the flag and don’t forget the le lo lai (song) I don’t want them to do with you what happened to Hawaii

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"What happened to Hawaii" is that it was admitted into the Union as its 50th state. Bad Bunny, who sings under the auspices of a record label founded by a former Venezuelan intelligence officer, would prefer that Puerto Rico separate from the United States in order to become an independent country—an option that only 12% of the island’s voters chose in 2024. The record shows that Bad Bunny also endorsed the pro-independence, Chávez- and Castro-sympathizing candidate for governor of Puerto Rico.

The Grammy-winning artist’s halftime show ended with a depiction of power outages, the titular "Debí Tirar Más Fotos, and his Grammy quote, "The only thing more powerful than hate is love," flashing on the big screen.

Bad Bunny walked off the field with a flag-bearing entourage in tow. His shout of "God Bless America!" really meant "América, as in the Americas, not the United States. A grand finale that was stilted, confusing, and subtly but passively-aggressively anti-American.

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This begs the question: Why even invite Bad Bunny to do the show in the first place? Could the NFL make a business argument to bring him in as the halftime performer? Yes. As the league expands into Latin America and other markets, Bad Bunny makes sense. They both share Mexico as their biggest overseas market, for example. It was a no-brainer.

On the other hand, this was a clear vetting failure. The halftime show was carefully constructed to mainstream two similarly toxic ideas to viewers in the United States: first, the idea of Puerto Rico as a separate nation from the United States. Second, the idea of Latino identity as a nation within a nation, a permanent immigrant status separate from the American mainstream.

Far from uniting the world "in a really creative and fun way," Bad Bunny delivered a highly divisive show that put identity politics front and center. The final product fell far short of Goodell’s hype, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of millions of viewers.

One shudders to think what the league might have in mind for next year if they insist on forsaking their core audience in pursuit of global expansion.