The Super Bowl is one of, if not the, most watched sporting event yearly around the world, characterized by the multi-million-dollar advertisements, the pre-game shows, the actual teams playing, and just the overall vibe of Super Bowl Sunday. But over the last couple of years, the Super Bowl halftime show has brought in millions of people around the globe to watch it, sometimes to the point that the halftime show brings in more viewers than the game itself. For this year’s Super Bowl 60, Bad Bunny was chosen as the headliner for the show, a decision that turned out to be very controversial not just around the country, but around the world.
Throughout the years, the Super Bowl has been headlined by Disney Princesses in the 80’s, to even artists like Kendrick Lamar, Maroon 5, The Weeknd, and many more over the last decade. Though for the 2026 Super Bowl, the NFL (National Football League), chose Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, to be the first ever Hispanic male to headline a Super Bowl halftime show. While many people, including me, are incredibly happy about this decision, many people were torn about the decision. Thousands of people are saying that it isn’t right that an artist that sing in Spanish shouldn’t be performing at the Super Bowl. Others are saying that it isn’t right that the artist that isn’t even coming to the US tour because he “hates Americans” as some people say, is performing at one of the biggest events here in the US. Firstly, don’t you think that the fact that he speaks Spanish would bring in even more people to watch the halftime show and the game? People from countries that don’t watch American football to get the opportunity to see it. Secondly, Bad Bunny never stated that he “hated Americans”, he’s from Puerto Rico which is part of the US, and he is a US citizen. The reason he never announced a US tour is because of ICE, and how he is scared his fans may be affected by the presence of the troops.
“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the U.S., and none of them were out of hate,” …”ICE could be outside (my concert). And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” he said in an interview with USA Today.
A lot of people also just think that he’s a lame pick or that there were better options for the show. Now of course I’m going to be biased and say that he’s not a lame pick because I love his music and he’s my favorite artist. Look at it like this, regardless of if you like Bad Bunny or not, he’s going to bring so many benefits to the league and the sport. Like I said earlier, many people from around the world are going to tune in to the show to watch him, which will bring thousands of people to watch the actual game and get people in countries that don’t watch and play football to watch it. It’ll also be an incredible opportunity for Benito to share his culture and his traditions on a bigger screen and open the eyes of many people to the Puerto Rican and Hispanic heritage and culture. “This is for my culture, my people, and our history” he said, reported by Yahoo news.
Another point is, who else could it have been? The main candidates that NFL fans speculated were artists like Drake, Taylor Swift, and possibly The Weeknd as these are really the only people that can match Bad Bunny’s numbers and global success. Many people wanted to see Drake, a global superstar adored here in the states, yet his last solo album drop was in October of 2023, a bit too long ago for the Super Bowl hosted nearly 3 years after. A grand majority of people thought Taylor Swift was the one to be named for the show, as her and Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce got engaged in August, though I’m not surprised that the NFL didn’t choose her as it would’ve gotten loads of backlash from the community as it would’ve been a bit suspicious that they gave the halftime to the fiancé of one of the faces of the NFL. Lastly, The Weeknd, an incredibly popular artist worldwide, yet many aren’t surprised he didn’t get nominated as he performed in the halftime show in 2021 at Super Bowl 55.
The decision to pick Bad Bunny wasn’t just about his music or who he is either, but about the numbers that back him up. Throughout the last 5 years, Bad Bunny has achieved Spotify’s number one most streamed artist globally 3 years in a row from 2020 to 2022. His album “Un Verano Sin Ti” is the most streamed album in Spotify history, surpassing 20.6 million streams at the time of writing this. Three Grammy’s, 12 Latin Grammy’s, 24 times platinum on his song DAKITI, 21 times platinum on his song Safaera are some of Bad Bunny’s many accomplishments. He has collaborated with artists like Drake, Cardi B, and others.
In the end, as much as many people won’t like the decision taken by the NFL to give the honor of the Super Bowl halftime to Bad Bunny, regardless of if you like him and his music or not, this is one of the best halftime show decisions in the last couple of years. This is going to be a show that will show millions of people in and out of the US Latino culture, the music we listen to, the habits we have, the slang we use, and the way we live every day. Though I 100 percent guarantee that it will get political, like it or not. What I can assure everyone is that Bad Bunny will give us an unforgettable show to prove all those who doubted him wrong.
