Having already made history for his home country of Puerto Rico, Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, commonly known as Bad Bunny, furthered his achievements by performing at the Apple Music LX Super Bowl Halftime Show as the first Latino artist to headline.
Following the headliner announcement, a significant amount of critique and debate arose over the Puerto Rican performer. Government officials, as well as President Trump, expressed dissatisfaction surrounding the artist choice. Viewers and attendees of the Super Bowl quickly became divided, disputing Bad Bunny’s history of criticizing the current administration. A boycott was soon planned leading to Turning Point USA (TPUSA) announcing an alternative halftime show that took place during Bad Bunny’s performance.
“I think all the controversy is because he’s a Spanish speaker, but you look at any of our past halftime shows [and] we’ve had people that are not, I guess you would say, ‘American’. He is Puerto Rican, he is part of America,” said Oscar Cardona, Spanish teacher.
The Turning Point USA halftime show was clearly referencing “Christian beliefs” and had a lineup that stirred controversy. Main headliner, KidRock, was announced to rival Bad Bunny’s performance and further contributed to the conservative viewership. Individuals took to social media to resurface controversial lyrics written by KidRock regarding ‘underage girls’. Following the backlash, KidRock went on to perform for TPUSA with a production fully based on Christianity, MAGA beliefs, and country music. Lee Brice, singer and songwriter, paid homage to the late Charlie Kirk. However, while the counterprogram peaked at six million views on youtube, Bad Bunny’s show garnered over 19 million views in its first 24 hours.
The TPUSA “All-American Halftime Show” was an arrangement of artists that drew allegations of lipsinging, a show with alleged low attendance and an anticlimactic stage presence. TPUSA halftime show was merely a counter-performance that included no particularly eye-catching performances, but rather consistent controversy and an intentional lack of genre changes. Compared to the NFL’s chosen artist, the alternate show was repetitive, unstimulating, and lacked artistry.
Bad Bunny opened his show with fields of sugarcane and Jibaros (workers) representing Puerto Rico’s history of manual labor and their exploitation in the United States. Symbolic representation like the sugarcane can be seen throughout the entire performance with references to the current immigration crisis taking place in America. Walking across the field, Ocasio interacts with various cultural stands, including a Piraguas (Puerto Rican shaved ice dessert) stand displaying multiple Latin flags on syrup bottles and a taco stand with the worker behind it. All in all, there was an array of purposeful representation and unmistakable divulgence of his personal beliefs.
Bad Bunny’s performance was packed with loud music, exhilarating visuals, and remarkable choreography. Various surprise appearances included Cardi B, Pedro Pascal, Lady Gaga, and the renowned Ricky Martin who performed “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii”, a song about the colonization that Puerto Rico faced under the United States and their loss of land, identity, and culture through mass tourism. The artistic and political expression came together unified without feeling like deliberate propaganda. His set-list included various songs and genres that truly captured his artistic sound as a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. Along with a strong set-list, personal and heart-warming moments like a live wedding and a march with various flags quickly drew positive attention from viewers online.
The 2026 SuperBowl Halftime show was a tremendously successful performance with an even more powerful message. It was a perfectly organized event incorporating numerous cultures, addressing a teeming amount of world problems, all while singing, rapping, and dancing. A conspicuous gratitude for a larger representation is apparent throughout multiple social media platforms, as the performance reached a worldwide audience.
“Si hoy estoy aquí en el SuperBowl 60, es porque nunca, nunca deje de creer en mí. Tu tambien deberias creer en ti. Vale mas de lo que pienso (If I’m here at the SuperBowl 60, it’s because I never, never stopped believing in myself. You should also believe in yourself too. It’s worth more than I think,” Bad Bunny said.
