The Bad Bunny of it All
¡Qué horror!
The NFL recently announced that Bad Bunny will headline the Super Bowl halftime show.
NFL.com: Global sensation Bad Bunny to perform at Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show.
Today, Apple Music, the NFL and Roc Nation announced that 3x GRAMMY Award-winning global recording artist Bad Bunny will perform at the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. on Sunday, February 8, 2026, airing on NBC.
I will admit that when I heard this announced, I knew it was going to cause some controversy. Despite being a middle-aged white dude, and unlike apparently a number of politicians and commentators, I know who Bad Bunny is. I know he sings in Spanish, and I know he has been critical of President Trump. Ergo, it seemed pretty evident that in our polarized, culture-war-obsessed politics that this was going to cause a rightward backlash of sorts.
I am commenting on this low-priority story because the responses just seem, on balance, kind of ridiculous. (And because it allows me to place in the back of my head the other, more depressing political stories of the week–although this story fits into the broader narrative more than I would like!)
For one thing, the notion that the NFL and NBC (this year’s broadcast partner) is worried about Super Bowl ratings is a bit silly. I don’t think that TPUSA’s counter-programming is making anyone selling commercials at NBC to be quaking in their boots. Via The Hill: Turning Point USA announces ‘All American’ Super Bowl halftime show.
“The All-American Halftime Show” will take place on Super Bowl Sunday, during the big game on Feb. 8. A website for the event gave few other details about Turning Point’s plans, but indicated more information about performers and how the concert will be broadcast would be forthcoming.
Oh look! Following Hegseth’s lead, I see, in announcing a meeting and then figuring out the agenda!
Beyond that, I can’t decide if the “All-American” part is ignorant or insulting (¿por qué no los dos?).
Maybe TPUSA (as apparently, with many others) doesn’t realize that Puerto Rico (Bad Bunny’s birthplace and home) is part of the United States of, say it with me, America.
Getting back to my middle-agedness, I would note that I do not expect Super Bowl halftime shows to be appealing to my demographic. We had our run from 2005 to 2010 when the performances were by Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Tommy Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and The Who. (And really, beyond just that window.)
If you look at the list of performers, it is pretty clear that for about three decades, the goal has been to get huge names, all of whom have rather clearly achieved a great deal of success, even if any specific artist may not appeal to any given viewer or set of viewers. Despite my eclectic musical tastes, I was not, to pick an example, super thrilled about The Weekend, but who cares? The last several decades beat marching bands or, Heaven help us, various “Salutes.” Do we want to go back to Up With People being the halftime regulars?
Bad Bunny is one of the most-streamed artists on Spotify (he is currently third, and was the most-streamed in the world from 2020-2022). He has global appeal, and the NFL is actively seeking to expand its international audience. BTW, if you look at that list and compare it to the list of SB halftime performers, there is a lot of crossover.
Nonetheless, Speaker Johnson (who is younger than I am, but puts off an incredibly stuffy old guy vibe) had this reaction.
Here’s the whole quote:
Johnson: Well, it sounds like he’s not someone who appeals to a broader audience. And I think, you know, there’s so many eyes on the Super Bowl. A lot of young, impressionable children. And I think, you know, in my view, you would have Lee Greenwood or role models doing that. Not somebody like this.
First, BB’s popularity is empirically demonstrated above. So what is it about him that Johnson thinks “lacks appeal to a broader audience”? Hard to say, I guess. I am sure Johnson is concerned solely about the Spanish of it all.
Second, Lee Greenwood?!?! What is he going to do, sing “I am Proud to be an American” on a loop for 15 minutes? (Amusingly, even Greenwood himself seems to acknowledge that is what he would sing–that and the National Anthem.)
BTW, Spotify had Greenwood at 446,760 monthly listeners; it has Bad Bunny at 80,055,744.
That whole discourse made me think of an Amanda Marcotte piece in Slate: MAGA can’t expand its base — and Christian music tells us why. She may overstate her case a bit, but it resonates with Johnson’s Greenwood v. Bad Bunny comparison.
One of the things I have noted is that the Bad Bunny situation underscores, yet again, that the crowd that claims they want to bring humor back is pretty humorless.
Bad Bunny hosted SNL this past weekend, and in his monologue, he made a joke (you know, a story with a humorous climax) that people who didn’t understand what he was saying in Spanish had four months to learn. I thought it was funny enough at the time I saw it.
Not TPUSA!
Although my favorite was MTG:
Not only does she get all snowflakey about the joke, but she turns it into fuel for her culture war nonsense.
And “demonic sexual performances” is borderline parody.
Let me add this: as much as I try to avoid making comments about people’s personal lives, I am growing very weary of conservatives who want to wage culture wars, not living up to their own standards. Green is divorced amid rumors of infidelity on her part. Lee Greenwood, whom Johnson seems to think is a role model, was married five times. This also reminds me of a clip of Steve Bannon extolling marriage in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination. Bannon has been married and divorced thrice. And there is, of course, the master of marital morality, the sitting President of the United States.
To be clear: people have complicated lives, and it isn’t for me to say what they should or should not do. But it is oh so very tiresome to be lectured to about sexual mores and general morality by people who do not live up to their own standards.
I suppose that the bottom line of why this all annoys me enough to write about it is that many on the American right keeping slinging accusations about others being snowflakes or not being able to take a joke or about their superior morality, and then when the NFL picks a highly popular act that they don’t like, they are are full of criticisms and attacks based, often, on nothing more than mere knee jerk reaction to something that seem kind of foreigny. Not to mention that I thought the GOP was the party of free enterprise. Is this not a business decision by the NFL, NBC, and Apple?
It just all feels like a microcosm of our times.
And I can’t help but think a lot of this reaction by people like Johnson and Greene isn’t part of a broader white nationalist message that someone who is from Puerto Rico and performs is Spanish doesn’t fit their views of what “American” should look like.
(So much for this being a semi-light diversion of a post.)
Back to humor, if you speak even a little bit of Spanish, you will find this to be amusing.
And yet they don’t seem to mind the game will be played in Levi’s Stadium, in Santa Clara, near San José, and where the San Francisco team plays.
Last week when the announcement was made, I saw a cross post from xhitter that the super bowl should have “Murican’s” playing at halftime. So there you go. About half the performers that you mentioned above are “ferigners,” but they’re white, so that’s OK. Besides, to people really sit down and watch tha halftime show? Every super bowl party I’ve ever attended it was simply background music.
Doubtful the turning point gig happens.
As always with the GOP, it isn’t just the hypocrisy, it’s the ignorance. Johnson conceded that he has no idea who Bad Bunny is – apparently he just doesn’t like the name. And of course he overstates Lee “one hit wonder” Greenwood’s popularity. And as also to be expected, even without Charlie Kirk, TPUSA will still be obnoxious and divisive.
Want to see some heads explode?
Sing some portion of the National Anthem in Spanish !
Goodell for President.
Geez, even Stalin let Eisenstein make a movie or two.
Ate and left no crumbs.
Well, the first thing that popped into my brain when I heard about Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl was surprise that the NFL would do a high dive into the current very hot culture wars. Like they didn’t know heads would be exploding all over maga world with the announcement.
NFL is feeling frisky.
They also let a Cuban singer perform in a Super Bowl. There’s no end to the NFL’s depravity and hatred of America!1111!!!111!!!!!!!!!!1
@becca: That was my take too. The NFL decided to show up and put down a marker on what kind of America they want to see.
The recent halftime show with the biggest number of viewers, and the all-time leader in subsequent streaming views, was Shakira and Jennifer Lopez co-hosting. As I recall, they did part of the show in English and part of it in Spanish. Bad Bunny was a special guest during that show.
Myself, I think the “four months to learn Spanish” is Bad Bunny needling the MAGA bunch. The producers would never bless an all-Spanish show.
Spoken by someone whose political party relies entirely upon a “captive” audience shackled to that party’s spoonfed lies and defamations, disseminated by the brutal coersion of media plus ungodly amounts of cash. Their level of intolerance rises with their agregation of power. Defcon4.
@Jay L. Gischer: just read an interesting take over at Sports Illustrated saying it was purely a good business decision.
I just hope the NFL doesn’t cave to pressure. I don’t do sports, but I may buy a jersey if they stand their ground. Which teams wear something in blue?
Resurrect this quote when the ratings are in. NFL halftime vs. TPUSA. If Trump supporters are going to continue to faithfully imitate his form (and function), they will always be viewed as shallow and dumb as the original version.
@becca:
The Rams wear blue and yellow. The Chargers blue and white. The Titans some sort of blue and something else.
Not that it matters, the last halftime show I watched was the one with lady Gaga. I didn’t see the game, Flacons vs Pats, because I dislike both teams and, unfortunately, they couldn’t both lose.
But usually if I’m watching the game, halftime is when I do something else, like browse the web, or read, or even see what’s on other channels.
And, in any case, half the audience in the US just wants to see the commercials. So if Toilet Paper USA wants a good halftime show replacement, they could license on of those “Best Super Bowl Commercials” specials.
Oh, any way to get some AI to redo the famous Apple 1984 SB ad with El Taco’s ugly mug instead of the generic Big Brother clone?
@becca: The Chargers’ powder blue + sunshine gold is the best color scheme in the league.
I’m betting they are not making a case that having colonies where people have no representation in the federal government is antithetical to the concept of democracy, and that Puerto Rico should be independent, a state, part of an existing state or part of some other country, but that the current relationship should not continue. Whether they want to remain a colony or not, we should not have colonies.
It’s directly opposed to the idea of equality for all. Simply put, it’s unamerican. Perhaps not historically (we were founded on slavery, for instance), but definitely aspirationally.
Because if they were making that case, I would agree with them.
I always thought he was doing a Colbert Report era Colbert impersonation. I figured it helped him say the completely insane shit that being a top Republican requires him to say — he’s not saying it, the character is saying it.
Pineapple on pizza is very popular, and very divisive.
And for years, the Super Bowl halftime show was some broadly popular artist with a fading career, where most of the audience could hum along if not sing along. It brought no surprises and challenged no one.
If there’s one thing that can bring Americans together from across the political spectrum, it’s not listening to the words of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.”
There’s been a shift away from that type of artist for the past decade or so, but I can see why someone might think a broader, shallower appeal is a better choice for an event that most of America will watch.
Or he’s just being racist.
Hard to tell, really.
I would tune in to watch that. Or at least watch it later when it’s on YouTube.
What’s so funny ‘bout a bunny that’s bad, Stephen?
@becca: Yes, they would say that. It’s probably the right choice for them to say that.
AND, there are a lot of black players in the NFL, and not a few of them in coaching. Maybe in marketing, too. Not as many Spanish speakers as there are in baseball, which is a lot more conservative. But not a few.
Definitely it ties into “they have to be authoritarian because they know they are losers”.
As I grow older, I have to watch things I love disappear. Not just people, but products, restaurants, landmark buildings, favorite shops and brands. This kind of sucks. It has never occurred to me though, to try to take over the government to try to stop this from happening.
(Personal note: As I write this, I sit less than a mile from Levi Stadium. Generally, I’m not here on Sundays, and that works for me. I need to be especially sure to not be here on Super Bowl Sunday, which I expect to be a traffic madhouse.)
I havant watched the halftime show in years and dont intend to start unless they actually find that Elvis is really alive and they recruit him. That said, even I know Bad Bunny is popular. Just more culture war from the right and note that they are trying to cancel him.
Steve
@steve222:
Elvis is not dead. He just went home.
Homey don’t play dat!
The only time I watched an alternative to the halftime show was January 1992
when In Living Color ran against Super Bowl XXVI and Gloria Estefan. Homey D. Clown and The Fly Girls ripped 11% of the CBS audience of 79.5 million viewers.
What network is Turning Point going to broadcast from? Enlace?
Some years back I was watching a halftime performance (by Beyonce I think, but I can’t quite remember), and the closed captions were being done live. Then the singer began singing in Spanish, and after a brief moment with no captions, it said, “Sorry, I don’t speak Spanish.”
The Superbowl halftime has weathered the Puppybowl, Nickelodeon, In Living Color and any number of other Superbowl halftime interlopers. I think it can weather TPUSA.
A huge percentage of the residents of the 50 states watch the Superbowl compulsively without regard to which teams are playing. You don’t build audience by catering to them. They are already there. You build audience by catering to the rest of the world.
And there is no better way to say I live in a bubble without saying I live in a bubble than Mike Johnson suggesting that the NFL “appeal[] to a broader audience” by inviting Lee Greenwood over . . . anybody, Up With People included.
@becca: The Broncos wear blue and orange. The current dark shades of the colors aren’t anything special. The previous blue and orange were region-specific. Back in those days, the first time people visiting saw a sunset from Denver, they said, “Oh, that’s why the Broncos’ uniforms are those particular shades of blue and orange.” When the colors were changed, there was considerable local animosity to the new ones. That disappeared because the Broncos promptly won a Super Bowl wearing them.
@becca: The Titans wear two tone blue, light and dark.
Back of the envelope calculations, let’s see, start with the number of car dealership openings that might stream something like this, add in the number of rural high school sports matches…probably at least half a dozen real monthly listeners…right right can’t forget about the various
cross burnings MAGA rallies Grand Dragon orgiesgatherings in support of our President…carry the 1…yeah it seems thats about 440,000 too many monthly listeners.@becca:
Blue jerseys, an in-depth team guide
Excellent teams:
-Detroit Lions (color called Honolulu Blue for some reason; fun team; long, tortured history; well-pedigreed QB unceremoniously dumped by LA Rams; dude named Amon-Ra St. Brown; they bite figurative kneecaps)
-Buffalo Bills (Best player in league at QB; hilarious Wide Receiver; snow games; less tortured, but still quite painful history)
Possibly excellent teams:
-Seattle Seahawks (throwbacks; current one is greenish; good roster; loud, passionate fan base)
-LA Rams (old QB with bad back; awesome Somoan-Hawaiian-Portuguese Wide Receiver named Puka who plays with excited delirium and will likely need a wheelchair by age 38; former wunderkind head coach who may or may not wish he quit coaching to work as TV analyst)
Good teams:
-Denver Broncos (owned by Wal Mart nepo babies; 89 year old second year QB; storied history; throwback uniforms are better; head coach is middle aged Dennis the Menace)
-LA Chargers (perpetual shooters of own foot; amazing QB whose fanboys push some analysts toward irrational hatred; head coach is former journeyman NFL QB, he is a psychotically competitive asshole and weirdo who once publicly announced that any woman considering an abortion should call him, because he and his wife will “take that baby”)
-Dallas Cowboys (please, don’t; apologies, Joyner)
-New England Patriots (fun second-year QB, former Evil Empire, now plucky upstarts; emotional, but excellent aging Wide Receiver; excellent Head Coach who won Super Bowls in early 2000s with the team as a free agent castoff, as a coach was castoff by nepo baby owner of one of the bad teams on this list)
-Indianapolis Colts (Indianapolis)
Possibly good teams
-Chicago Bears (very dark, but yes, blue; QB ordained from young age whose father said Chicago is where “quarterbacks go to die”; hard-ass wunderkind head coach; long history; SNL sketch fame)
-Houston Texans (other Texas team; color scheme is commodified patriotism; previously employed serial sexual abuser at QB—maybe the patriotism is authentic; previously employed weird, Machiavellian, overtly Christian ‘spiritual advisor’ as an executive—maybe the patriotism is authentic; original, now-deceased owner once warned against “inmates running the asylum” during labor negotiations with player union—maybe the patriotism is authentic; good defense; talented QB overwhelmed by poor team-building)
Maybe, sorta decent-ish team:
-New York Giants (white Running Back; angry, red-faced head coach)
Bad teams:
-Tennessee Titans (nickel store Chargers powder blue; storied history when they were in Houston; former QB probably murdered by mistress, but maybe there was a conspiracy; current QB is hard-working and charismatic rookie; nepo baby head coach in over his head replaced excellent coach now in New England)
-Carolina Panthers (dime store Chargers powder blue; normal-sized human at QB; owner is a dickhead hedge funder out of his depth who throws drinks on opposing team fans)
Good luck with your choice
@Gustopher:
In Canada?
Como soy latino que habla español con orgullo y en voz alta, espero con ansias el concierto de Bad Bunny durante el medio tiempo del Super Bowl.
Toda la gente de MAGA a la que no le guste puede chuparme la polla. Todos son pendejos racistas.
@EddieInCA: lo siento, soy estupido.
That is the extent of my Spanish. It’s enough for most situations, and I will be eager to see if Mr. Bunny includes it in any of his songs.
When Kendrick Lamar did the halftime show last time, I barely understood one word. This is due to age and cultural barriers. My daughter saw him perform in Seattle in the rain for three hours, and she thought he was great. I think that I would enjoy Rosalía; her song La Fama speaks to me without any need for subtitles.
@Gustopher:
If I wrote my post in English, I’d get banned, and rightly so.
@Slugger:
Part of it was poor acoustics. But he does rap rapidly. My usual advice for people interested in understanding it is to read the lyrics when they listen. Eventually, rap becomes like any other song—some lyrics will be misheard, but most comes through. It takes practice.
Kendrick is of a different breed of lyricists. And this is coming from someone who grew up in awe of Lennon and McCartney.
I wrote a post after the Super Bowl ended about the ridiculous response to that halftime show.
The most absurd response—that it was Black Nationalist, I guess they didn’t notice all the American flag imagery or Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam. Odd choices for Black Nationalism.
The Right feels that, ‘hey, this election we won the Culture War battle too, and we now have a mandate to inflict our values on the Super Bowl Halftime Show.’ Now, I don’t think that the NFL will capitulate to these people, but seeing as how everyone else has caved in, to me it’s probably 50/50 that Goodell folds up.
Way before my time, but wikipedia tells me that the 1958 Ritchie Valens version of La Bamba was a top 40 hit.
And the 1987 Los Lobos version spent time at #1.
1958 and 1987.
@DK:
Sometimes we order from Domino’s when we work late. For a while, I tried to get the coworkers to try something different. I was never successful. The order is always pepperoni, Hawaiian (ham and pineapple), and Mexican (ground beef, chorizo, onions, and jalapeños).
But pineapple in savory food is a bit more common here. Namely tacos al pastor are sliced roasted pork served on a tortilla with onions, cilantro, and pineapple.
Also, most Chinese food places here will put pineapple in their sweet & sour dishes.
As to the pizza, my objection is to Domino’s not to pineapple.
Pardon me for asking, but who the heck is “Bad Bunny”?
I’m sorely tempted to also ask “and what the heck is the Superbowl”, but being a afficionado of things American, I can’t plausibly claim that.
Nonetheless, American football remains tedious.
Play Rugby Union, ftlog.
“it’s the game. It’s the only game.”
(Well, apart from cricket, obvs.)
🙂
But on “Bad Bunny”, I honestly don’t have a clue, lol.
I come more and more to cherish my disconnection from popular culture; but I wonder how many non-tik-tok generation Europeans might also not know?
@Kurtz:
And Coventry FC, the “Sky Blues”, are close to gettting back into the https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/coventry-city-promotion-odds-slashed-32597480
Also, Worcester Warriors are back!
Albeit their colours are gold and blue.
They won their first match 29-19.
Except it was against …
Coventry
*sighs*
The pains of divided loyalty.
🙁
@JohnSF:
I dunno, man. I kinda like Coventry’s shitslick brown kit.
@EddieInCA: Good thing no one around here reads Spanish 😉
Oh no I’m getting old.. I had no idea who bad bunny was…
Then again I had no idea who Lee Greenwood was despite growing up and fully embracing the right wing culture and proud to be an american was on play 24/7…
The forced capitalization of my name has removed any shred of uniqueness I felt 🙁
@Kurtz:
That was an “away kit”.
Rules re away game football strips are bit odd, and seem in some respects to go back to the days of black-and-white TV.
Oddly enough, thinking about it, I can’t recall any premier rugby or football team that has brown as their main colours.
Though given the scatalogical inclinations of the normal British stadium, that’s perhaps not very surprising.
The chants Coventry got in that kit were, shall we say, a tad impolite.
@Kurtz:
Yeah, well, that was an away kit. 🙁
English football can be odd that way: it seems to relate in part to the days of black and white TV!
(But don’t quote me on that. It’s just a wag)
@EddieInCA:
Ah, but the question is can a twll penoll actually sugno ceiliog?
Technically tricky. 😉
I do love Cymric.
@JohnSF:
@Matt:
He shows up in the entertainment section of the local papers now and then. If I’ve ever heard any of his songs, I’m unaware of it. I think he’s performed in Mexico.
Since the latest pearl clutching on the wingnut side started, I chanced to read a bit about him while perusing The Guardian’s website. Still no clue about his music, but he seems to be a good guy overall.
@Kurtz:
Nothing about the worst uniform with blue in it of all time, the Philadelphia Eagles throwback uniform, channeling the team’s uniform from 1934? Think the colors of the Swedish flag, but the yellow predominates.
@JohnSF: If you were 25 you would know who he is. He has sold more concert tickets than any other Latin singer in the UK and has been a top 10 in world music. However, while he is a top 2 in Spotify all time in the US (only behind Taylor Swift) I dont think he rates so highly in the UK. But, TBH, I wouldn’t recognize any song by either him or Swift.
Steve
@steve222:
Yeah, it’s just me.
Doubtless my youngers would know.
I just snuggle up to older music, lol.