Next year’s Super Bowl headliner is a global chart-topper, but conservative Americans aren’t happy.
On Sept. 29, the National Football League (NFL) announced rap and reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny will headline the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. Averaging 120 million viewers in 2025, the Super Bowl is one of the world’s most-watched sports events; past headliners include Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna.
The announcement sparked backlash from American conservatives who are unhappy with the Puerto Rican singer performing. But as the Latinx community in America is being targeted by Trump’s immigration policies, Bad Bunny’s performance will serve as a reminder of the importance of upholding free speech and diversity in music, especially amid cultural conflict.
Conservatives’ arguments against Bad Bunny are varied but unsupported: some call him hypocritical for performing at the Super Bowl after choosing not to tour in America for fear that U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents would raid venues. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Krisi Noem said ICE agents will be present at the game.
Complaints finally reached fever pitch with calls to boycott Bad Bunny’s performance, which will be entirely in Spanish—a first for the Super Bowl. But Spanish isn’t foreign to America; as the country’s second most popular language, 13 per cent of the U.S. population speaks Spanish at home. There’s seemingly no language barrier to Bad Bunny’s universal success, as he holds the second-highest number of Spotify streams worldwide and three English Grammy awards.
With most claims unfounded, it seems criticism of Bad Bunny’s announcement as headliner stems more broadly from historical right-wing pushback against Latinx artists breaking into the American mainstream. But the tense hatred of this moment is another attempt by supporters of the current Trump administration to control free speech—some conservatives fear Bad Bunny will use the Super Bowl’s platform to criticize Trump or experiment with gender-fluid styles of dress, as he has done in the past.
Bad Bunny’s unique expression is why some left-wing voices argue he’s the right choice to headline next year’s Super Bowl. For the NFL, this is a good business decision: Bad Bunny will improve the league’s reach to Latinx viewers who may tune in solely for his performance. Liberal podcaster Molly Jong-Fast also notes in a New York Times article that conservative backlash can drive ratings, something true for shows South Park and Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the past year.
For America, this is a subversive cultural decision, choosing to platform Latin music’s most prolific performer, whose outspoken opposition to the Trump administration makes him emblematic of the kind of free speech it abhors. Viewers may not recognize Bad Bunny’s music, but they can recognize the kind of message his defiant love of Latinx culture sends to discriminatory politicians. This patriotism itself is very similar to long-held American ideals.
Bad Bunny himself seems to think critics will come around to his performance. As he hosted the season 51 premiere of Saturday Night Live! on Oct. 4, the rapper concluded his opening monologue in Spanish. “It’s more than a win for myself, it’s a win for all of us,” he said of his announcement as headliner. “[Latinx] footprints and our contribution in this country, no one will ever be able to take that away.”
“If you didn’t understand what I just said,” he finished in English, “You have four months to learn.”
Whether through catchy beats or impassioned political discourse, Bad Bunny’s performance will surely teach all viewers the benefits of platforming diverse voices in music.
Tags
bad bunny, Culture, Football, Music, NFL, rap, Super Bowl
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