Hundreds of people contacted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show—which surpassed Kendrick Lamar’s as the most watched of all time—to complain that it was overly sexual, and not performed in English. An analysis of the FCC complaints over Bad Bunny’s halftime show by WIRED following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request found the top three states for complaints were Texas, Florida, and California, in that order. Four hundred and ninety-seven complaints total contained the word “vulgar,” 735 contained the word “Spanish,” and 919 contained Bad Bunny’s name.
Hundreds of people
contacted the Federal Communications Commission
about Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show
to complain that it was overly sexual
and not performed in English.
An analysis of the FCC complaints
by Wired following the Freedom of Information Act
requests found the top three states
for complaints were Texas,
Florida, and California in that order.
497 complaints total
contained the word vulgar,
735, the word Spanish
and 919 contain Bad Bunny's name.
One complainant from Alabama wrote quote,
Dancers engaged in perreo-intense grinding,
hip thrusting, and twerking.
Cameras capture closeups of suggestive contact,
pelvic motions, and all
amplifying the explicit nature.
Another individual from North Carolina complained,
There are illegals on my TV screen,
and that although they admittedly
did not understand Spanish,
they thought they quote,
heard inappropriate language.
It's important to note
that Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican,
and as such a US citizen.
The number of complaints pale in comparison
to the number of people
who watched the historic show,
which featured Lady Gaga,
a wedding and a cameo from María Antonia Cay,
the beloved proprietor
of Brooklyn's Caribbean Social Club.
All told, the performance was watched
more than 4 billion times on broadcast, YouTube
and social media according to the NFL Apple Music
and Rock Nation,
which produces the halftime show.
A few days after Bad Bunny's performance
in February, Republican lawmakers
called for the FCC to investigate the NFL
and NBC, which broadcast the event.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez,
subsequently requested transcripts
of their performance and found no violations.
Saying to Reuters, quote,
I reviewed them carefully
and found no violation of our rules
and no justification for harassing broadcasters
over a standard live performance.
Representatives for Bad Bunny and NBC
did not immediately respond
to email seeking comment.