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'I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,' U.S. president says
Published Oct 08, 2025 • Last updated 9 minutes ago • 4 minute read
BunnyTrump
Bad Bunny and U.S. President Donald Trump Photo by Getty Images
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U.S. President Donald Trump is claiming he’s “never heard” of next year’s Super Bowl LX halftime entertainer, Bad Bunny.
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During an interview on NewsMax’s Greg Kelly Reports, Trump was asked about the NFL’s selection of the Yo Perreo Sola hitmaker, who sings mostly in Spanish, as the 2026 Super Bowl musical act.
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“The NFL just chose the Bad Bunny rabbit or whatever his name is,” Kelly said to Trump. “This guy, who hates ICE, he doesn’t like you, he accuses everything he doesn’t like of racism. Do you think maybe we should entertain blowing off the NFL? … This guy doesn’t seem like a unifying entertainer.”
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“I’ve never heard of him,” Trump replied. “I don’t know who he is … I don’t know why they’re doing it. It’s like crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment — I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Last year, the reggaeton artist whose given name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, lashed out at Trump during the U.S. election after the president invited comedian Tony Hinchcliffe to a campaign rally where he called Bad Bunny’s native Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
“I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader,” Bad Bunny said, throwing his support behind then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Bad Bunny’s only U.S. show next year will come during the halftime show when he continues his Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour, which will include stops in Mexico, Japan, Australia and France. The singer told I-D magazine last month that he was scared ICE agents would launch immigration raids targeting his fans if he performed in America.
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“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the U.S., and none of them were out of hate,” he told the publication. “But there was the issue of — like, f***ing ICE could be outside (my concert). And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
Bad Bunny
Bad Bunny attends Game 3 of the American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays on Oct. 7, 2025. Photo by Al Bello /Getty Images
Bad Bunny was the most-streamed artist on Spotify for three straight years, from 2020 to 2022, and was runner-up to Taylor Swift in 2023. He was named Artist of the Year by Apple Music in 2022. His sixth studio album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, spent four weeks at No. 1 atop Billboard earlier this year.
The LP also became the first of 2025 to surpass seven billion Spotify streams on Sunday.
Back in July, he took a swipe at the president’s immigration policies in a music video for his song Nuevayol that features a Trump impersonator apologizing to immigrants.
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“I made a mistake,” the voice says. “… I want to say that this country is nothing without the immigrants. This country is nothing without Mexicans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Cubans.”
After Bad Bunny was picked to headline the Super Bowl, he called his selection a win for his home island of Puerto Rico.
“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” he said in a statement. “It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown … this is for my people, my culture, and our history.”
But the pick did not sit well with many of Trump’s MAGA allies.
Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski warned that ICE agents could be at next year’s Super Bowl in San Francisco looking to round up illegal immigrants.
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“It’s so shameful that they’ve decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much,” Lewandowski said during an appearance on Benny Johnson’s The Benny Show.
“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally, not the Super Bowl and nowhere else,” Lewandowski said. “We will find you and apprehend you and put you in a detention facility and deport you. Know that is a very real situation under this administration, which is contrary to how it used to be … It’s so shameful that they’ve decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also said immigration agents will be at the show and called the NFL’s entertainment choice “so weak.”
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“I have the responsibility to make sure everybody who goes to the Super Bowl has the opportunity to enjoy it and to leave safely. That’s what America’s about,” Noem told Johnson, according to Fox News. “We’ll be all over that place.”
Former racecar driver, Danica Patrick, blasted the NFL’s decision on X, writing, “No songs in English should not be allowed at one of America’s highest rated television events of the year.”
DANICA PATRICK: 127M Americans tune into the Super Bowl to come together. Halftime should unite us, not divide us. If the show isn’t something we can sing along to, it misses the moment.@DanicaPatrick pic.twitter.com/S2HSEDFs6c
— Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) October 3, 2025
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Later, the rising conservative pundit suggested during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast that “counter-shows” could be programmed during Bad Bunny’s set to appeal to viewers at home.
“To say, ‘Look, if you don’t want to watch a halftime performance and watch Bad Bunny, come watch this,’” Patrick said. “And it’s probably going to be tempting, even for me. Because I like to watch a great performance and I like to sing along.”
During his hosting stint on Saturday Night Live over the weekend, Bad Bunny made jabs at his critics, playing an edited clip of Fox News hosts saying they were “happy” he’s performing at the Super Bowl.
He also addressed the audience in Spanish and then quipped, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!”
mdaniell@postmedia.com
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