Conservatives are going to hate Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show — and that’s a good thing
The world’s biggest annual sporting event will feature one of the world’s biggest musical acts. That’s how it should be.
By Carron J. Phillips
With the economy in flux, Bad Bunny might have just saved America some much-needed money.
A year after President Donald Trump’s frivolous trip to Super Bowl 59 cost American taxpayers upward of six figures, it’s nearly certain that we won’t see him in Santa Clara. Considering that he left during the early parts of the second half in February after Kendrick Lamar finished his politically charged performance, which focused on racism and social justice, you can bet Trump won’t want anything to do with Bad Bunny.
The Puerto Rican star was magnanimous about being selected for the halftime show. “What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” Bad Bunny said. “It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown…. [T]his is for my people, my culture, and our history. Ve y dile a tu abuela, que seremos el HALFTIME SHOW DEL SUPER BOWL.”
With seemingly daily news alerts about how Trump is using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as his personal attack dog to harass anybody who isn’t a white person who voted for him, Bad Bunny’s mere existence defies the president’s politics and style of governing. An international megastar who primarily raps in Spanish, paints his fingernails, and, although straight, defines sexuality as fluid—as evidenced by his kissing a male backup dancer on stage—Bad Bunny agreed to take the stage next February after refusing to perform in mainland America for political reasons.
“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the U.S., and none of them were out of hate — I’ve performed there many times,” he said recently. “All of [the shows] have been successful. All of them have been magnificent. I’ve enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the U.S. But specifically, for a residency here in Puerto Rico, when we are an unincorporated territory of the US… People from the US could come here to see the show. Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world. But there was the issue of—like, fucking ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
Like clockwork, on Wednesday it was announced that ICE might be on the premises for the game (insert deep sigh).
“There is nowhere you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else,” Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said in an interview. “We will find you and apprehend you and put you in a detention facility and deport you. Know that is a very real situation under this administration, which is contrary to how it used to be.”
Some conservatives are pissed about the halftime show, especially because most of them probably don’t know that Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and its residents are U.S. citizens at birth. Bad Bunny rebels against what this administration tries to define as “American.”
“I think it’s really cool that he is doing the Super Bowl, in part because I think that very often our concepts of race and ethnicity and all of those things in this country [are] binary,” sports commentator Bomani Jones recently said on his podcast. “We think in the context of Black and white, and we just forget our Latino brothers and sisters are here in a lot of those discussions.”
“I will also say … I don’t think people have noticed this—boy, the last 20 years of Super Bowl halftimes have been a little bit of a race war,” he added. “We have not had just regular old white people headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show since Maroon 5 in February of 2019.”
The spectacle of what the Super Bowl Halftime Show has come to be is because of Black Americans. The sketch-comedy show “In Living Color”—which featured a diverse cast that was majority Black—aired a live episode on Fox during halftime of the Super Bowl in 1992, drawing significant ratings and leading the league to take the intermission more seriously. The following year, the NFL booked the “King of Pop”—Michael Jackson, for the young ones—for Super Bowl 27 (1993).
“The NFL didn’t acknowledge this for years,” Keenen Ivory Wayans, creator of “In Living Color,” has previously said. “They really just huddled up and said, ‘Let’s get Michael Jackson, and let’s make sure this never happens again.’ They just kept getting big names, like Prince and Madonna.”
After the infamous “nipplegate” incident between Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake in Super Bowl 38 (2004), the halftime show was whitewashed. From 2004 to 2018, 10 of the 14 acts were white artists.
In 2019, many musical acts boycotted the Super Bowl in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. Maroon 5 answered the call, saving the NFL in Atlanta. Months later, the NFL gave Jay-Z’s Roc Nation control of the show. Since then, the halftime show has been very, um, “urban.” Eminem’s special guest performance in 2022 was the only time a white artist has performed since 2019.
The noticeable change of direction in diversity regarding performer selection isn’t just about popularity or album sales. The NFL has actively tried to increase its brand globally to make football more than just an American game. Since the failed NFL Europe League of the 1990s, the league has expanded into places like Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Cape Town through its “NFL Africa” program. This season, the NFL has seven games scheduled internationally in Madrid, Berlin, London, Dublin, and Sao Paulo.
Trump is imposing tariffs on imported goods, but the nation’s most powerful sports league is trying to export a product that is organically American.
Pro football has been one thing Trump cannot conquer. The league’s belief that “football is for everyone” makes the selection of an artist who released an album with 7 billion streams on Spotify not only a savvy business decision but also a subtle jab at the president and conservatives. In a weird way, this move by the NFL—of all organizations—represents defiance and exemplifies the enduring relevance of democracy.
Carron J. Phillips is an award-winning journalist who writes on race, culture, social issues, politics, and sports. He hails from Saginaw, Michigan, and is a graduate of Morehouse College and Syracuse University.
I have said several times in the past few days that sports is the one area in my life where I don't have to think about politics--but now I do. I'm so sick of Trump inserting himself into every aspect of our lives. Remember Daniel Stern's line in City Slickers, when he says that when he was younger and would argue with his father "we could still talk about baseball"? That's an important neutral ground that Americans need more than ever.
The ways I have of relieving stress are nearly gone. Ruining baseball games with mandatory Charlie Kirk tributes and now stationing thugs at sports stadiums is one of the last straws for me. I support teams that support the diversity of their rosters and fan base, and this hits WAYYY too close to home for all of us. Do any other sports fans feel this way?
ICE hanging out at the Super Bowl? Only because they want to party, as I'm sure no migrants and illegals can afford tickets. Only rich white dudes spend outrageous amounts to be at the game.