Bad Bunny is set to headline the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, promising a "huge party" as he performs primarily in Spanish at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. The Puerto Rican star's appearance comes amid a contentious political climate, with immigration enforcement operations ramping up across the United States.
The all-Spanish performance has already sparked backlash from conservative commentators, with some demanding an English-only show and others dismissing the artist's credentials. Right-wing pundit Tomi Lahren claimed Bad Bunny was "not an American artist", despite Puerto Ricans being US citizens by birth.
Bad Bunny, who recently won three Grammy awards including album of the year for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, used his acceptance speech to voice support for immigrant communities. "We're not savages, we're not animals, we're not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans," he said, adding "ICE out" while receiving a trophy.
According to Vanessa Díaz, co-author of a new book on Bad Bunny, his music carries "the weight of the history of Puerto Rico" and embodies a tradition of "music as resistance and dance as joy". She described his Spanish-language performance as "extremely political" at a time when Latino and migrant communities face heightened fear.
The halftime show follows a period of intense scrutiny of immigration policies, with reports of federal agents detaining individuals, including US citizens, and incidents such as the killings of two citizens in Minneapolis and the detention of a five-year-old boy with his father. The NFL's choice of Bad Bunny has intensified the culture war surrounding the event.
