On February 8, 2026, the biggest football game of the year will kick off, live from Santa Clara, California and on millions of televisions across the country. Fans will be wondering whether last year’s Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, will successfully defend their title or if another NFL team will take that crown. Although the game itself is important, it is often the halftime performance that captures most viewers’ attention.
Music superstars ranging from Beyoncé to Katy Perry to Bruno Mars have all performed during halftime at the Super Bowl, and the halftime performance is more than just a typical performance. In a way, the halftime performance tells us something about what America is going through at that moment in time. Now, three-time Grammy Award winner Bad Bunny has recently announced that he will be performing during the halftime show at the Super Bowl.
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Announcement video (Source: @badbunnypr on Instagram)
Sadly, his Super Bowl announcement received mixed reviews. For instance, journalist and media personality Megyn Kelly on her YouTube channel argued that the NFL’s choice of Bad Bunny is “a middle finger to MAGA and the right wing, [and that] he hates the United States so much that he won’t come here because he is worried about ICE raiding his concert.” However, it is important to remind people that Puerto Rico is a part of the United States of America and that he is a United States citizen, unlike previous halftime show performers such as Coldplay and the Rolling Stones. At the end of the day, Bad Bunny can choose to tour wherever he wants, and people need to respect his reasoning for why he does the things that he does.
Another criticism he has received is that most of his songs are in Spanish, which some people may argue will make it harder for them to watch his performance. However, this is a strange critique as he is not the first Spanish-speaking performer to perform at the Super Bowl. During the Super Bowl 2020 halftime show, he performed alongside artists such as Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, J. Balvin, and Emme Muniz. However, rather than this being seen as a con, it is exactly what will make his performance stand out. Bad Bunny said in an interview with Vanity Fair that he is “never going to [sing in English] just because someone says I need to do it to reach a certain audience …. It is just that I feel more comfortable in my own language.”
Who are we to tell someone that they need to switch up their songs because it may not be the traditional way for how songs are performed at the Super Bowl? While I can understand where people are coming from with this fear, people should at least give him a chance, especially if they have never heard of his music. Who knows? You may just end up being in the top .01% of Spotify listeners of his music at the end of the year.
Other reactions, however, reflected excitement for him. According to one user on Bad Bunny’s announcement, the user hopes that Bad Bunny “does not speak a single syllable in English during the show and when people try to turn on the captions, I hope it says [SINGING IN SPANISH].” Overall, whether you like him or not, one thing that his performance will display is a lot of pride for his culture, and I am excited to see how he incorporates that into his performance.
[SPEAKING NON-ENGLISH] appears on the screen as Bad Bunny gives his 2023 Grammy Award Acceptance Speech in Spanish. (Source: CBS)
More than Just a Music Artist
While Bad Bunny has won various awards for his music, he is also an activist for different social issues, from domestic abuse to the LGBTQ+ community. For instance, during his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he wore a pink blazer, a skirt, and a t-shirt in Spanish saying, “They killed Alexa, not a man in a skirt.” He did this to raise awareness about the murder of a homeless transgender woman named Alexa Negron Luciano, who was shot and killed for using a women’s bathroom in Puerto Rico in 2020.
Bad Bunny honored Alex Luciano during his performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Source: toofab.com)
During an interview after the performance, he said that he “is going to do what is within my reach to [work] against [violence against women]. … My message should not be a feminist message. It is a universal message.” He even would dress in drag during his “Yo Perro Sola” music video to stand up against sexual harassment and abuse of women.
Same Old Patterns
This reaction pattern that we are seeing is not new to us. Previous halftime performers who highlighted their cultural identities also faced criticism. For example, during Kendrick Lamar’s 2024 Super Bowl performance, he used powerful symbolism and themes that celebrated Black culture, such as the use of Uncle Sam and the line: “40 acres and a mule — this is bigger than the music.” His performance, too, was both celebrated and heavily criticized by people across the country. While some people may have viewed his performance as too political or woke, many praised him for shedding light on the issues that African Americans face in the United States on one of America’s biggest stages.
Bad Bunny’s upcoming performance will hopefully follow this tradition of using the halftime stage to highlight culture and identity. While some critics may question the NFL’s decision, the show will ultimately be a celebration of Latin music and Puerto Rican heritage, as mentioned previously. Millions of people will get to see someone stay true to himself on the biggest stage, and this may inspire future music stars to continue to dream big.
Moments like this show us that representation matters because it shows that more than one group of artists can belong in the room. Whether people embrace this new reality or resist it, one thing should be clear: America is constantly evolving, and its biggest stages must reflect that diversity.
Acknowledgment: The ideas expressed in this article are those of the individual author.