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Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance is officially behind us. Kindly. What started out as a flurry of rants and rants, then a lot of angst, ended with a show that has been most affectionately described as divisive and confusing to former Bad Bunny fans. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell promised that Bad Bunny will use the show to bring the world together in a “really creative and fun way.” Turns out he was right. Much of the country, with the exception of some Democrats like California Governor Gavin Newsom, was united in their outrage at a plan that was narrowly tailored to suit a wide audience despite being billed as inclusive and pro-American.
The pre-show hype surrounding Bad Bunny’s invitation to perform at this year’s Super Bowl began with his demand on SNL that viewers “learn Spanish.” He backtracked in a pre-Super Bowl press conference, but the sentiment rang true.
Then there were internet rumors that Bad Bunny would wear a dress during his performance and honor Hispanic LGBTQ+ figures. That turned out to be an illusion.
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You have to hand it to Bad Bunny and his marketing team. In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, they’ve made sure to grab people’s attention, whether they’re hopeful or not.
Bad Bunny performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
The Super Bowl halftime show was an abbreviated version of a show he put on while living in Puerto Rico. As America watched, Bad Bunny began walking through the sugar cane field. He went through several typical Puerto Rican scenes as he opened with “Tití Me Preguntó (“My Aunt Asked Me”),” such as a coconut water stand and a domino table. As he came into the house, viewers were treated to a medley of his many other hits before transitioning into a tribute to ’90s and ’00s reggaeton and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it display of two dudes gearing up.
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If any show were in English, we would hear a great message from Bad Bunny: “My name is Benito Martinez Ocasio. And if I’m here today at Super Bowl LX, it’s because I never, ever, stop believing in myself. You have to believe in yourself. You’re worth more than you think. Believe in me.”
Ugly Rabbit plays during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Then we moved on to the show’s highlight: Lady Gaga joining a salsa band for a rendition of “Die With A Smile” on a stage built to resemble the El Morro fort in Old San Juan—a moment that probably had most Levi Stadium attendees singing along.
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But wait, there’s more. This entry includes Bunny Bad’s “Baile Inolvidable (Unforgettable Dance),” “Nueva Yol (New York),” and his iconic Grammy award.
Ugly Rabbit plays during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
So far, there was nothing in the show that could be considered overly anti-American. That changed when Ricky Martin started singing the song “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii (What Happened to Hawaii),” which translates as:
They want to take away my rivers and beaches. They want to take my land and for Grandma to leave. No, don’t give up the flag and don’t forget this lo lai (song) I don’t want them to associate with you what happened in Hawaii.
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“What happened to Hawaii” was that it was admitted to the Union as its 50th state. Bad Bunny, who sings under a record label founded by a former Venezuelan intelligence officer, would prefer that Puerto Rico secede from the United States and become an independent country—an option chosen by only 12% of the island’s voters in 2024. The record shows that Bad Bunny has also endorsed the independence and self-government candidate, Chroáz-Cast. Rico.
Bad Bunny performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The Grammy-winning singer’s halftime show ended with an image of a power outage, the title “Debí Tirar Más Fotos, and her Grammy quote, “The only thing stronger than hate is love,” flashing on the big screen.
Bad Bunny left the arena with a flag-carrying team in tow. His shouts of “God Bless America!” really means “América, as in American countriesnot the United States. A great ending that was focused, confusing, and subtly but not-so-aggressively anti-American.
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This begs the question: Why did you even invite Bad Bunny to do the show in the first place? Could the NFL make a business case to bring him in as a part-time player? Yes. As the league expanded into Latin America and other markets, Bad Bunny made sense. Both share Mexico as their largest overseas market, for example. It was nothing.
Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga stand on the field during the Super Bowl LX game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
On the other hand, this was a clear failure of the experiment. The primetime show was carefully constructed to present two equally toxic ideas to the United States audience: first, the idea of Puerto Rico as a separate nation from the United States. Second, the concept of Latino identity as a nation within a nation, a permanent immigrant status separated from the American mainstream.
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Far from bringing the world together in a “really creative and fun way,” Bad Bunny presented a 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 his NFL news conference Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in San Jose, California, before the Super Bowl 60 football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. (AP Photo/Matt York)
One shudders to think what the league is thinking next year if it insists on abandoning its core audience in pursuit of global expansion.
