NewNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show is officially behind us. Kind. What started with hype and outrage, and then more outrage, ended with a show that was most generously described as polarizing and confusing to those who weren’t already Bad Bunny fans. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell promised that Bad Bunny would use the show to unify the world “in a really creative and fun way.” It turns out he was right. With the exception of a few Democrats, like California Governor Gavin Newsom, most of the country was united in their opposition to a show that, while being inclusive and respectful of America, was tailored for a specific audience.
The pre-show promotion surrounding Bad Bunny’s invitation to perform at this year’s Super Bowl began with his SNL demand that the audience “learn Spanish.” He took a dig at the pre-Super Bowl press conference, but the sentiment rang true.
There was then a rumor online that Bad Bunny would wear a costume and honor Hispanic LGBTQ+ celebrities during his halftime performance. He turned out to be a fraud.
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show draws Trump’s ire, divides audience
You’ve got to hand it to Bad Bunny and his marketing team. In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, he made sure to get people’s attention, whether positive or not.
Bad Bunny performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California on February 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Maurie Gash)
The Super Bowl halftime show was an abridged version of the show he performed during his Puerto Rico residency. As America watched, Bad Bunny began strolling through a sugarcane field. As he opened with “Titi Me Pregunto (“Aunty Asked Me”), he walked through several scenes typical of Puerto Rico, such as a coconut water stand and domino tables. As he arrived at a house, the audience was treated to a mashup of several of his other hits before paying homage to ’90s and ’00s reggaeton and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it depiction of two guys grinding.
Green Day frontman tells Ice agents to ‘quit that job’ at Super Bowl party performance
If either show had been in English, we would have heard a mostly positive message from Bad Bunny: “My name is Benito Martínez Ocasio. And if I’m here today at Super Bowl LX, it’s because I never stopped believing in myself. You should believe in yourself, too. You are worth more than you think. Trust me.”
Bad Bunny performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, February 8, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
We then moved on to the highlight of the show: Lady Gaga joined a salsa band for a version of “Die with a Smile” on a stage built to resemble El Morro Fort in Old San Juan – a moment where most of the crowd in Levi’s Stadium could probably sing along.
NFL legend criticizes league for choosing Bad Bunny as halftime performer: ‘Anything for money’
But wait, there’s more. It begins with Bad Bunny’s “Baile Inolvidable (Unforgettable Dance),” “Nueva Yol (New York)” and a symbolic transfer of their Grammy.
Bad Bunny performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, February 8, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (AP Photo/Charlie Riddell)
Up to this point, there was nothing in the show that could be considered explicitly anti-American. This changed when Ricky Martin began singing the chorus of “Lo que le paso a Hawaii (What Happened to Hawaii)”, which translates as:
They wanna take the rivers and beaches away from me They wanna take away my neighborhood and grandma
Kid Rock says TPUSA’s alternative halftime show is for people who love Jesus and America
“What happened to Hawaii” is that it was admitted to the union as the 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 secede from the United States to become an independent country – an option that only 12% of the island’s voters chose in 2024. Records show that Bad Bunny also endorsed the pro-independence Chávez and pro-Castro candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico.
Bad Bunny performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California on February 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The Grammy-winning artist’s halftime show ended with a depiction of a power outage, the caption “Debbie Tirar Mass Photos, and her Grammy quote, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” flashing on the big screen.
Bad Bunny walked off the field with his flag-carrying entourage. His slogan was “God Bless America!” What it actually meant was “America, as AmericaNot the United States. A grand finale that was stilted, confusing, and subtly but passive-aggressively anti-American.
Click here for more Fox News opinion
This begs the question: why was Bad Bunny invited to the show in the first place? Can the NFL make a business argument for bringing him in as a halftime performer? Yes. As the league expands into Latin America and other markets, Bad Bunny makes sense. For example, they both share Mexico as their largest foreign market. It was a thoughtless thing to do.
Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga stand on the field during the Super Bowl LX halftime show between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California on February 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Anderson)
On the other hand, it was a clear investigative failure. The halftime show was carefully constructed to mainstream two equally toxic ideas to audiences 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.
Click here to download Fox News App
Instead of uniting the world “in a really creative and fun way”, Bad Bunny presented 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.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during an NFL news conference before the Super Bowl 60 football game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots on Monday, February 2, 2026 in San Jose, California. (AP Photo/Matt York)
One shudders to think what the league has in mind for next year if it insists on abandoning its core audience in the pursuit of global expansion.
