Let’s Stop Pretending Politics Is the Reason People Are Angry About Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Set 

Since the NFL announced Bad Bunny as headliner of the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show, seemingly every pundit on earth has had some profound opinion.

In The New York Times, Molly Jong-Fast labeled Bad Bunny an “anti-ICE pop star” in a column titled “The N.F.L. Gets it: Why Don’t Democrats?” insinuating that Bad Bunny is the face that can somehow save Democrats from freefall. On the flip side, MAGA mavens piled on the criticism fast and furious, with podcaster Benny Johnson labeling Bad Bunny an “anti-ICE activist” and “massive Trump hater.”

And, when a major network interviewed me live immediately after the Bad Bunny announcement, I was asked: “Isn’t he controversial?” I was genuinely baffled at the question. “No, he’s not,” I said in complete truthfulness.

Bad Bunny hasn’t had major scandals of any sort; he has no arrest record; he’s never made news for being intoxicated or under the influence; he hasn’t had public fights with other celebrities or newsmakers, nor is he known for provocative social media posts or proclamations. He’s not given to making polarizing statements or offering political opinions, save for those directly related to his homeland of Puerto Rico, where he lives full-time.

And while several Latin artists have been openly critical of the United States’ current immigration policy, even there, Bad Bunny has tread lightly. His widely quoted comment regarding ICE came at the tail-end of an interview published online by i-D magazine in September, where he was pointedly asked if his decision to not give concerts in the U.S. was out of concern about the mass deportations of Latinos here.

“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the US, and none of them were out of hate — I’ve performed there many times. All of [the shows] have been successful,” he said, noting that Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the US, and “People from the U.S. could come here to see the show.” But, he added, “there was the issue of—like, f–king ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”

Is that really a controversial statement? The man isn’t saying anything against the U.S. or the U.S. government — and hasn’t even mentioned President Trump, as many other artists have directly and pointedly done, including rapper Doechii in her recent BET Awards acceptance speech.

The fact that an artist has different political views from the president shouldn’t disqualify them from performing at the Super Bowl. Taylor Swift, after all, was widely speculated to be the Super Bowl performer in 2026 and she has aligned herself with Democratic politics — but it’s hard to imagine the same people would be as angry about her Super Bowl set just because of her politics.

Furthermore, as a Puerto Rican, Bad Bunny is considered a U.S. citizen, can vote in presidential primaries and pays state, local and income taxes (Puerto Ricans can also have representatives at congress meetings, but they cannot vote in general elections). Despite his citizenship, however, Bad Bunny sings only in Spanish and speaks English with a Spanish accent. And that is what has everybody’s panties –from the left and from the right — tied up in a knot.

Spanish is the second-most-spoken language in the world among native speakers, second only to Mandarin. In the U.S., Spanish is the second most spoken language behind English. Approximately 14% of the population — some 45 million people — speak it at home, according to Census data. According to Luminate, Spanish is the second most-listened to language in music, by far, with 24% of American music listeners consuming music in Spanish (French trails in third place at 8%). English is of course the top language in music consumption, by percentage of the total (88.8%), followed by Spanish (8.1%) and Korean in a distant third (0.7%) — and Bad Bunny has been the most-listened-to artist in the world for three of the past five years.

But, as those of us who speak Spanish daily can attest, many still look down on Spanish as a language, and definitely on the people who speak it. This isn’t conjecture nor paranoia; being a Latin immigrant makes for a barrier of entry, and certainly the biggest hurdle I’ve had to overcome at a personal level. I’ve been berated for speaking Spanish in the most genteel of environments: the park, the club, the theater. Early in my career, I lost a job as a DJ for a classical music station in Los Angeles, of all places, because a listener called in to say she “couldn’t understand” me.  

My U.S.-born children have been sanctioned for speaking Spanish, to themselves, in sports tournaments, in states both to the left and to the right — and I became used to parents talking to me very slowly, as if my slight Spanish accent somehow made me hard of hearing or slow to understand.  Speak with a British, French or Italian accent and you are chic, educated, sharp. Speak with a Spanish accent, and your IQ suddenly dips.

So, let’s acknowledge that having Bad Bunny headline the Super Bowl is a bold choice — but let’s also be real about the reasons.

While he is not the first Latin artist to perform on that stage – Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira have all headlined— those three are known as bilingual, “crossover” acts whose biggest hits came in both English and Spanish. In fact, all three performed bilingual sets.

But Bad Bunny has never performed in a bilingual format. As an artist who writes his own lyrics, he feels at ease in his native tongue, and belongs to a streaming generation that readily accepts music in other languages — unlike two decades ago, when recording in English was required to reach broader listenership. Singing and performing in Spanish are core to his music and his artistic persona, not because he’s making a political or social statement, but simply because that’s his language.

Now, he’s been asked to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, and he’s accepted — not because he’s attempting to make a political statement, but because he’s proud to showcase his culture and heritage.

“I’m very happy,” he said in his opening monologue when hosting Saturday Night Live over the weekend. “Especially for all the Latinos and Latinas in the whole world and here in the United States. The people who have worked to open doors. More than my accomplishment, it’s an accomplishment of all of us, demonstrating that our mark and our input in this country cannot be thrown out or erased.”

Take the man at his word. Playing the Super Bowl is an honor. The fact that an artist will do so in a language that has become a global musical unifier is truly the highest form of flattery. Rather than criticize, second-guess or raise hell in either direction, let’s just celebrate, kick back and enjoy a show that should be massively entertaining for all viewers — regardless of their native language.