Halftime Hype and Cultural Blind Spots
The legacy media and liberal celebrities have overwhelming praised Bad Bunny’s Superbowl performance. When longtime member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, Steve Van Zandt, noted that without subtitles, the music was not inclusive, he was harshly criticized. For example, John Melloncamp tweeted, “I don’t know what Bad Bunny is saying, however, I do know he is standing up for Puerto Rico and I am stranding up for him. His halftime show was great.” Facing this pressure, Van Zandt deleted his tweet.
The lack of subtitles was due in part to Bad Bunny’s position. When his selection was announced, he told reporters, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn [Spanish].” But it also reflected how uncomfortable listeners would have been with some of his lyrics, particularly his opening song, “Titi Me Pregunto.” It tells the story of a man crudely bragging about his sexual conquests:
Ey, auntie, asked me if I have a lot of girlfriends, a lot of girlfriends
Today I have one; tomorrow I’ll have another,
hey, but there’s no wedding, there’s no wedding, auntie
Auntie asked me if I have a lot of girlfriends; he, a lot of girlfriends
Today I have one; tomorrow I’ll have another …Let the ones I already f*cked smile …
I have a Colombian who writes me every day
And a Mexican I didn’t even know about
Another one in San Antonio that still loves me
And the ones from PR are all mine
A Dominican who is a hottie, a hottie
One from Barcelona that came by plane
And says that my penis is fire …Many want my baby
They want to have my firstborn, hey
And take the credit
I’m bored already. I want a brand new vagina, heh
A new one, a new one, a new one, a new one, a new one (ey)
Strikingly, there was not one liberal media mention, let alone criticism of these misogynist lyrics, even though the Superbowl is a family event witnessed by millions of children.
Interestingly, this was one of his biggest hit singles, just as Cardi B’s WAP (Wet Ass Pussy) was five years earlier. As I wrote at the time, her video begins with an over voice chanting, “There’s some whores in the house.” We are told: “I don’t cook, I don’t clean, but here is how I got my ring.” To make the sex-for-money narrative clearer, Cardi B shouts, “Pay my tuition just for a kiss,” and later, “He’s got some money then that’s where I am headed.”
One can find many criticisms of wokeness but the damaging effects it has had on the personal values of young people may be the worst.
It also presents female sexual liberation in the worst image for women: one should embrace painful rough sex: “Never lose a fight, but I’m looking for a beating” and “You can’t hurt my feelings, but I like pain.”
The actor Russell Brand pointed to its similarities with gangsta rap and concluded, “It’s … ultimately a sort of capitalist objectification and commodification of, in this case, the female.” Indeed, not only does it demean women as whores, embracing rough sex, and presenting them in semi-nude seductive poses, it several times uses the n-word to give the video the same presentations found in those gangsta rap songs of a decade ago.
Just as with Bad Bunny’s performance, liberals applauded her song and presidential candidate Joe Biden embraced her. The Huffington Post wrote, “WAP is making people uncomfortable because it’s about female pleasure.” For Vox, WAP is solely about showing how liberated women can unabashedly enjoy sex; “looking for a beating” is just “a guarantee of endurance from her vagina.” This is an interesting rationale but what about “I like pain”? Indeed, both responses ignored the reference to whores, the use of the n-word, and the sex-for-money narrative that runs throughout the song. Fittingly, Cardi B appeared in Bad Bunny’s halftime show wearing “a nude off-the-shoulder corset with a ruffled skirt by Zimmermann.”
For many, “Tito Me Pregunto” and “Wet Ass Pussy” promote sexual degeneracy. They do more than simply exalt a hedonistic lifestyle. They disparage marriage and religious beliefs, values that are increasingly becoming staples of progressive thought. This is why it was fitting that the alternative halftime show was to “celebrate faith, family, and freedom,” according to Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet.
The sexual liberation that fans of these songs are promoting glorifies a “hook up” culture where sexual fulfillment is divorced from friendship and personal feelings for partners. It also raises pressures by focusing on individual sexual performance and sexual fulfillment aspirations. Not surprisingly, these factors have a negative impact on the desire for sexual relations. Between 2010 and 2024, “sexlessness,” defined as having had no sex in the past year, doubled from 12 to 24 percent among young adults.
One can find many criticisms of wokeness but the damaging effects it has had on the personal values of young people may be the worst, especially if one believes that the nuclear family is the cornerstone of a healthy, morally-driven society. Thus, Bad Bunny’s halftime performance showed the dangers of contemporary so-called progressive thought.
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Robert Cherry is an American Enterprise Institute affiliate and author of the soon-to-be released book, Arab Citizens of Israel: How Far Have They Come? (Wicked Son Press, March 2026).