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Every year, millions of people tune in to watch the National Football League’s (NFL) Super Bowl and see which team will be named champions. This year’s Super Bowl LX was held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on February 8, 2026. The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots competed for the title, with the Seahawks winning. As many watch for the love of American football, many also tune in to watch the spectacular halftime show hosted by today’s biggest musical artists. It has become a trend for many to watch just for the halftime show, as every year these concerts go all out with professional dancers, lights, sets and special messages.
This year’s Super Bowl halftime artist was Puerto Rico’s Bad Bunny aka Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio. The NFL chooses which artist to headline alongside entertainment company Roc Nation (founded by Jay-Z). They take into consideration who has high streaming metrics and overall popularity with the public. Bad Bunny’s 2025 album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” had just won Album of the Year at the 2026 Grammys, so his halftime performance featured the best hits from the album and past hit songs too.
This makes him the first Super Bowl halftime show performer to sing primarily in Spanish instead of English. To pay tribute to Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny’s sets had many references to his homeland and Latino culture, from palm trees to sugar cane fields, and vendors with carts to family weddings and parties and electrical poles signifying the chronic power outages pervasive in the U.S. territory that have gone unfixed by the federal government.
“I absolutely loved the Super Bowl halftime show, even as someone who doesn’t speak Spanish,” Atinan Anwar (12) said. “Bad Bunny showed that we can come together no matter what language we speak or what country we are from. His message of unity is exactly what we needed during these difficult times!”
Many saw the halftime show as a heartfelt moment, especially considering the recent wave of ICE occupations of diverse communities, and were filled with pride seeing Bad Bunny, an icon and influential figure for Latin America. Each Latin American country’s flag was also represented, encouraging solidarity among all Spanish-speaking Americans.
However, many were also unhappy with his presence. Many disgruntled NFL fans posted online that because of his heritage and style of music, he shouldn’t have been chosen to present at an “American” event, suggesting that Latin music fans aren’t “American.” Even President Donald Trump weighed in, saying on Truth Social, “The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” He added: “This ‘Show’ is just a ‘slap in the face’ to our Country.” More found it inconsiderate to have Bad Bunny perform Spanish-language songs when 78% of households in the U.S. speak dominantly English, going so far as to say they felt taunted by Bad Bunny when he said people had “four months to learn Spanish” when he was announced as the halftime performer back in November.
And yet, for every negative opinion, there seemed to be even more positive ones. Perhaps the most memorable image provided by the show was the vignette of a little boy with his parents watching the Grammys on TV, and then Bad Bunny giving the boy his actual Grammy award. Some believed at first that the boy in question was Columbia Heights Public Schools (CHPS) student Liam Conejo Ramos, who had been detained by ICE along with his father last month. This was quickly dispelled, and a new prevailing interpretation surfaced: Bad Bunny was giving his award to a younger version of himself to show that achieving one’s dream is possible.
“Seeing him handing this [award] off demonstrates that you cannot give up culturally to the next generation, and [instead, you can] keep going with this ‘American dream’ in your own way,” Heidy Cordova Quizhpi (11) said. “Because if he could, then you can [too].”
Bad Bunny also gave the opportunity to have many other celebrities join him on the big stage, including Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, Pedro Pascal, Cardi B and Karol G. An instantly viral dance between Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga, along with Gaga’s Latin style rendition of “Die With a Smile”, was a crowd pleaser in particular. Regardless of one’s political beliefs or antiquated ideas of what it means to be “American,” Bad Bunny made clear that he was all about having a party and celebrating with everyone from all around the world, showing unity!
Despite the much backlash received, it’s important to recognize the ones who felt empowered, including myself. Having someone as big as Bad Bunny represent many of us currently was impactful. And even if you don’t share the same background as him, we can all share the same struggles while still representing our beautiful culture in front of millions. He conveyed many powerful messages throughout his performances like “never stop believing in yourselves, and you’re worth more than you think,” “the only thing more powerful than hate is love” and “we’re still here… together, we are America.”
Bad Bunny put all he had into this performance by spotlighting the hard work Hispanic immigrants in America do, the beautiful culture they bring and the love they bring with everything they do. Bad Bunny’s NFL Super Bowl halftime performance and message need to be presented all across America in this crucial time of supporting people of all backgrounds here in the United States.
