{"id":49528,"date":"2025-10-19T20:59:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T20:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/19\/bad-bunnys-super-bowl-controversy-history-behind-magas-reaction\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T20:59:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T20:59:35","slug":"bad-bunnys-super-bowl-controversy-history-behind-magas-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/19\/bad-bunnys-super-bowl-controversy-history-behind-magas-reaction\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Controversy: History Behind MAGA’s Reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tWhen the NFL, Roc Nation, and Apple Music announced<\/a> that Bad Bunny<\/a> would be the 2026 Super Bowl<\/a> halftime performer, the noise started almost immediately. On one side, there were cheers and excitement: His fans recognized the historic nature of the performance, which will go down in the books as the first Super Bowl halftime entirely in Spanish. Plus, the announcement came toward the tail end of yet another massive year for Bad Bunny \u2014 after a triumphant 31-date residency in Puerto Rico<\/a>, an Amazon stream of the concert that broke records, and the blockbuster success of his chart-busting album Deb\u00ed Tirar M\u00e1s Fotos<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the other side, there was just as much commotion, but these conversations were almost hysterical \u2014 and far uglier<\/a>. Conservatives blasted the NFL\u2019s choice<\/a>, taking issue with pretty much every facet of Latin<\/a> music\u2019s most visible star. His music? Unlistenable. His politics? Unacceptable. His lyrics in Spanish? Un-American.<\/p>\n

\n\tBad Bunny has been such a beloved figure across the global music landscape precisely because he\u2019s been authentically himself, embracing fashion and aesthetic choices that subvert gender norms and refusing to make palatable, commercial pop in English. He\u2019s been unafraid to speak his mind in his songs, often speaking out about difficulties in Puerto Rico, like gentrification, economic difficulties, and the long-term impacts of colonization. And while he isn\u2019t a polemical artist who staged long tirades against the administration, he has stood up about issues he cares about, such as the rights of immigrants amid the government\u2019s cruel deportation policies. In an interview with i-D<\/em><\/a> magazine, he shared part of the reason he opted against touring in the U.S. was because he didn\u2019t want ICE to terrorize his largely Latino fanbase outside his concerts.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis makes him a target for conservatives. Newsmax host Greg Kelly called for a boycott of the NFL, insisting that Bad Bunny \u201chates America, hates President Trump, hates ICE, hates the English language! He\u2019s just a terrible person.\u201d Even the highest levels of government have gotten involved. Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, threatened that immigration agents would be \u201call over\u201d the event. Trump later went on Newsmax to bash the artist, saying, \u201cI never heard of him. I don\u2019t know who he is,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI don\u2019t know why they\u2019re doing it, it\u2019s crazy, and then they blame it on some promoter that they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it\u2019s absolutely ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tTurning Point USA, the conservative youth-focused group founded by the late Charlie Kirk, decided it would organize a \u201ccounterprogram\u201d during Bad Bunny\u2019s performance, calling it \u201cThe All-American Halftime Show\u201d to celebrate \u201cfaith, family, and freedom.\u201d A website contact form gives followers a chance to request music and artists, including worship music, country, and \u201canything in English.\u201d MAGA<\/a> supporters drafted inane petitions to replace his performance and even called for his deportation \u2014 despite the fact that Puerto Rico is a territory of the U.S. and he\u2019s an American citizen.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs maddening and outsized as the reaction feels, it\u2019s part of an unfortunate, small-minded tradition of sidelining and othering Latin artists in the United States, even though these musicians are often American and represent huge swaths of the population. These moments are callous and drenched in xenophobia, yet they go back decades. In 1968, for example, the Puerto Rican artist Jos\u00e9 Feliciano performed \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d at the 1968 World Series \u2014 only he did it in a stripped-back, Latin-influenced style on his acoustic guitar. The performance became a lightning rod; many people took it as if it was some kind of counterculture protest and were confused by Feliciano\u2019s long hair and sunglasses (which he wore because he was born blind.) They raged to radio stations and sent him hate mail, with some even calling for his deportation \u2014 even though Feliciano, like Bad Bunny, was born in Puerto Rico and is a U.S. citizen. History, and ignorance, repeats itself, and in this case, it had dire consequences on Feliciano\u2019s career for a few years.<\/p>\n

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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\t\u201cI was a little depressed, to tell you the truth,\u201d Feliciano said<\/a> later. \u201cAnd then they stopped playing me. Like I had the plague, or something.\u201d Years later, in 2018, he reflected on the incident and shared that his rendition was actually his way of honoring his country from a deeply felt place. \u201cWhen I did the anthem, I did it with the understanding in my heart and mind that I did it because I\u2019m a patriot,\u201d Feliciano said<\/a>. \u201cI was trying to be a grateful patriot. I was expressing my feelings for America when I did the anthem my way instead of just singing it with an orchestra.\u201d (Perhaps not coincidentally, Bad Bunny paid homage to Feliciano as a pioneer and trailblazer, bringing him onstage during his 2023 headlining set.)<\/p>\n

\n\tOther examples of bringing Latin artists onto mainstream stages have come with an unnecessary amount of controversy, even decades later. Take the 1999 Grammys: Back then, Ricky Martin was a star on the rise, having successfully plotted a career from child boy band Menudo to breakout solo act. He had already become a household name in Latin music, and his album Vuelve<\/em> was nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Pop. His label head Tommy Mottola began pushing to have Martin perform one of the tracks \u2014 the famed \u201cCup of Life\u201d FIFA anthem that Martin had written for the 1998 World Cup \u2014 as an opening number for the Grammys telecast. Despite Martin\u2019s stage presence and star power, producers for the awards show disapproved of the idea, convinced a Latin act singing primarily in Spanish wouldn\u2019t work for the show.<\/p>\n

\n\tMottola later recalled how intense the pushback was. \u201cThere was tremendous resistance from the Grammys,\u201d Mottola told Billboard<\/em><\/a>. \u201cThey did not want an \u2018unknown\u2019 to perform, yet we had already sold 10 million copies of Vuelve<\/em> worldwide. To me, that was absolutely UNACCEPTABLE.\u00a0 We had enormous leverage at that time with almost every major superstar on our label. We heavily voiced our \u2018opinion and influence\u2019 and said: \u2018Ricky must have a performance on the Grammys!\u2019 No was not an option.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt took Mottola fighting for that moment to make it happen \u2014 and a standing ovation and thousands of records sold later eventually proved that the Grammys short-sighted biases didn\u2019t hold any water. It seems even more ridiculous today, now that Latin music continues to generate more than $1 billion in revenue. Bad Bunny later played that same slot at the Grammy awards \u2014 and while he didn\u2019t appear to face opposition from the show\u2019s higher-ups, he did go viral when captions popped up on the CBS telecast, describing his lyrics as \u201csinging in non-English.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe all-too-frequent xenophobic knee-jerk reaction to Latin acts is often triggered by language alone. Just this June, the singer Nezza, who is of Colombian and Dominican descent, was asked to do the national anthem at a Dodgers game. She had prepared to do \u201cEl Pend\u00f3n Estrellado,\u201d a Spanish version written in 1945 by Clotilde Arias after the Division of Cultural Cooperation of the Department of State asked for translated versions of the \u201cStar Spangled Banner.\u201d (These were solicited as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt\u2019s \u201cGood Neighbor Policy\u201d toward Latin America.) According to some reports, Dodgers officials told her at the last minute she couldn\u2019t perform in Spanish \u2014 but she did so anyway, angering conservatives and sparking outrage and insults online.<\/p>\n

\n\tNezza explained her decision<\/a> at the time in a statement to Rolling Stone<\/em>, saying \u201crepresentation matters.\u201d She added, \u201cFor anyone clutching their pearls, it\u2019s important to know: in 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself commissioned an official Spanish version of \u2018The Star-Spangled Banner\u2019 to honor and include Latin Americans. That version \u2014 \u2018El Pend\u00f3n Estrellado\u2019 \u2014 tells the exact same story, word for word in meaning, and is set to the exact same melody. The heart of the anthem does not change with the language. So why was I told I couldn\u2019t sing it? Make it make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tLongtime prejudices have meant that Latin artists have been regarded with suspicion, doubt, and even outrage throughout music history, but these attitudes have twisted into something far more intense and sinister as a result of the current administration. Bad Bunny\u2019s Super Bowl performance comes at a time when the government has antagonized Latino communities, spread anti-Latino rhetoric, and treated immigrants with abject cruelty, callously celebrating images of forceful, often violent arrests and brutal detainments. Even speaking Spanish is othered by conservatives and painted as anti-American. As soon as Trump came into office, he passed an executive order to make English the official language of the U.S. while the White House removed Spanish translations from its official websites. On social media, viral videos have shown right-wingers confronting people speaking Spanish and associating the language with those who don\u2019t \u201cbelong\u201d here, ignoring the fact that 18 percent of the population is bilingual.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut despite the rhetoric rooted in such an ugly history, Bad Bunny will still take the stage in February, and he\u2019ll perform his songs in the language he wrote them in. That moment will represent millions of people in this country, including many of the Latinos who make up 20 percent of the population. What he chooses to say or do will ultimately be up to him, just the inherent act of him stepping under that spotlight will be a political statement \u2014 one that will speak to his roots, his lineage, and the history of Latin artists who have helped bring him here. No matter what, it will be a moment of self-expression \u2014 and one that\u2019s deeply American, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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