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2026 Grammy winner Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) finally delivered his much-anticipated halftime performance as the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots on February 8th, Super Bowl Sunday. The 31-year-old Puerto Rican artist offered a heartfelt, high-energy tribute to Latin communities across the United States and the wider Americas, dancing and performing through a sea of cultural references to his heritage. The set concluded with the phrase “God bless America,” followed by a roll call of countries across North and South America — including, of course, Puerto Rico.
That said, not everyone welcomed the performance. Bad Bunny’s set was almost entirely in Spanish, causing significant uproar in the current political climate in the U.S. Some viewers unfamiliar with his music questioned the lyrics a contrast to previous halftime shows, which were largely performed in English. The most prominent critic was Donald Trump, who labeled the performance a “slap in the face to our country,” claiming that “nobody understands a word this guy is saying.” Other critics included far-right commentator Benny Johnson, who dismissed the performance as “unintelligible” and “foreign,” despite Bad Bunny being born in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory.
Backlash from right-wing media escalated further when Turning Point USA, the organization founded by Charlie Kirk, hosted an alternative halftime livestream. Headlined by Kid Rock, a vocal Trump supporter, the event leaned heavily on Christian imagery and their interpretation of American values. The event was attended by Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr.
So, if far-right critics argue that Bad Bunny’s performance failed to represent “real” America, the question becomes: who, then, was it representing? According to the 2020 U.S. Census, roughly 68 million Americans identify as Latino, making them the second-largest ethnic group in the country behind white Americans. Whilst we can’t assume that all Latino Americans are Bad Bunny fans, the performance’s cultural references, music, dance, and fashion placed a significant and often underrepresented segment of American identity on one of the world’s largest stages. It’s a significant group not just to the communities themselves but to the Republican Party, as more Hispanic voters voted for Trump in 2024 than for Kamala Harris. So, when Trump directly attacks the cultural identity of Latinos, he’s directly attacking the American voters who helped put him in office. The performance, thus, whilst not being in English, still found plenty of ways to represent millions of Americans.
Even if these reasons aren’t enough to justify why Bad Bunny was chosen to perform at this year’s halftime show, the fact that he was 2025’s most-listened-to artist on Spotify in the U.S. meant he earned it. And whilst not everyone could understand every lyric being sung or empathize with every cultural reference being made, everyone should be able to understand the message Bad Bunny delivered at the end of his performance: “The only thing more powerful than love is hate.”
Edited by Sanjanaa Radhakrishnan
Image: ‘Bad Bunny performs during halftime’ by Lynne Sladky, 2026 // AP Photo
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