Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, the Puerto Rican-born singer better known as Bad Bunny, made his Super Bowl debut in 2020 alongside Shakira and Jennifer Lopez. But since the NFL announced him as the Super Bowl headliner in September, he became a focal point for conservative ire — thanks, in part, to his high-profile political activism.
An outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration crackdown, he declared “ICE out” onstage at last week’s Grammy Awards — where his album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” made history as the first all-Spanish record to snag the show’s coveted album of the year trophy — and left viewers wondering what message he might have for the millions of football fans tuning into his set.
But Bad Bunny did not directly call out any of the president’s policies or supporters during his Super Bowl show. The only English he spoke during Sunday’s show was him saying, “God bless America,” as he was marching off the field with a procession of Latin and South American flags — led by the U.S.’s flag. He then spiked a football that read: “together, we are America.”
His show also referenced the island’s long-struggling power grid.
In the hours after the performance, MAGA allies took issue with the show’s mostly-Spanish discography and Puerto Rican inspiration.
“Was a single word of English spoken during the Super Bowl Halftime Show?” Nick Adams, Trump’s pick to become ambassador to Malaysia, wrote on X. “Someone needs to tell Bad Bunny he’s in America. This is an abomination.”
Far-right influencer Laura Loomer railed against his set in a series of X posts, urging border czar Tom Homan to deploy an immigration raid on site.
“There’s nothing American about any of this,” she wrote. “This isn’t White enough for me. Cant even watch a Super Bowl anymore because immigrants have literally ruined everything.”
Meanwhile, MAGA-friendly influencer Jake Paul urged his X followers to “turn off this halftime,” decrying Bad Bunny as a “fake American citizen performing who publicly hates America.” Paul, who was recently seen with Vice President JD Vance at the Olympics in Milan, received swift blowback online, including from Paul’s own brother, Logan.
Many, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), pointed out that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens — and that Paul himself has been living there since 2021.
Other figures within the president’s orbit echoed their disapproval. Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino reacted to Bad Bunny’s performance in a podcast episode on Rumble titled “Kid Rock > Sad Bunny,” telling viewers the show “sucked.” Meanwhile, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, wrote on X that she and her family “aren’t watching him.”
Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) called the show “disgusting” and said it violated broadcast standards, writing on X that he plans to send a letter to FCC Chair Brendan Carr demanding a review.
“Had he said these lyrics — and all of the other disgusting and pornographic filth in English on live TV, the broadcast would have been pulled down and the fines would have been enormous,” Fine wrote. “Lock them up.”
Conservatives did rally behind alternative programming. Turning Point USA, the conservative organizing group founded by Charlie Kirk, aired a rival halftime show headlined by longtime Trump ally Kid Rock, drawing support from Republican officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who praised the event.
