Bad Bunny’s Spanish Super Bowl Shocker

A 13-minute Super Bowl halftime show in Spanish exposed how quickly “unity” turns into a language loyalty test in American culture.

Quick Take

Bad Bunny headlined Super Bowl LX with an all-Spanish set, a first for a solo headliner on the NFL’s biggest stage.
Stadium energy ran hot and positive, while conservative critics framed the lack of English as exclusionary and “anti-American.”
President Trump attacked the booking before the game and skipped the event, intensifying the political lens on a music performance.
The NFL pitched the choice as unifying and globally mainstream; the backlash showed how fragile that promise can be.

A Halftime Show That Became a Referendum on Belonging

Bad Bunny walked into Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara carrying two spotlights at once: global pop superstardom and a reputation for activism tied to Puerto Rico and U.S. politics. The performance itself stayed focused on movement, salsa-inflected staging, and a tight 13-minute run with no overt political message. The political brawl arrived anyway, because the set stayed entirely in Spanish, daring viewers to decide what “for everyone” means.

Fox-focused criticism latched onto one easily repeated grievance—“not one word of English”—and branded the show as a cultural snub rather than a musical choice. That argument has power because it feels simple and patriotic on its face. Yet it also dodges a basic truth: the Super Bowl halftime show has always been an entertainment product, not a civics lesson. The NFL sells attention; it does not enforce a national language policy.

What Actually Happened on the Field, and Why That Matters

Reports from the stadium described a crowd that cheered, danced, and treated the show like a party rather than a provocation. That split—joy in the building, outrage on television and online—matters more than any hot take about choreography. It suggests many fans experienced the performance the way most people consume halftime: as a break and a spectacle. The language debate surged most among people watching from afar, where commentary can overtake reality.

Bad Bunny’s decision to keep it all Spanish also changed the normal halftime contract with the audience. Most headliners aim for mass sing-along moments. He aimed for cultural confidence: the music doesn’t translate itself; it invites you into it. That can feel thrilling to viewers who recognize their own family language on the biggest American broadcast. It can also feel like a locked door to viewers who expect the show to meet them where they are.

The NFL’s “Unifying” Pitch Collided with Today’s Politics

The NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell framed Bad Bunny as a global talent who could unite audiences, and from a business perspective that logic tracks. Spanish-language music has crossed fully into the mainstream marketplace, and the league chases audiences where they actually live. The problem is that unity has become a slogan people interpret differently. For many conservatives, unity implies assimilation and shared civic culture; for others, it means equal status for different cultures.

President Trump’s pre-game condemnation of the choice, plus his decision to skip the event, poured gasoline on an argument that might otherwise have stayed in the realm of taste. Once a president labels a performer “terrible” and hints the booking disrespects “us,” the halftime show stops being background noise. From a common-sense conservative standpoint, criticism is fair game; but treating a Spanish set as automatically “anti-American” stretches the facts past credibility.

Why the “No English” Complaint Hits So Hard

Language triggers identity. Many Americans grew up with the idea that English is the glue that holds a diverse country together, and there’s a reasonable, conservative argument for a shared public language in government and civic life. Yet the halftime show isn’t government; it’s culture. The more coherent critique is not “Spanish is wrong,” but “the NFL chose a format that predictably alienated part of the audience on the one night it sells as national togetherness.”

Bad Bunny’s public history makes the reaction even more combustible. His past appearances and statements tied to Puerto Rico, immigration enforcement, and social issues trained critics to expect a political stunt, even though the Super Bowl performance avoided explicit messaging. That mismatch—expectation of provocation, delivery of a party—left critics hunting for a different offense. Language became the stand-in, because it’s visible, provable, and instantly polarizing without needing to quote a lyric.

The Precedent: What This Means for Future Halftime Choices

The long-term impact isn’t whether this show ranks high or low on someone’s personal list. The real shift is precedent: the NFL proved it will put a non-English-dominant performance at the center of its most watched broadcast. That signals confidence that America’s audience is big enough to absorb it. It also signals to activists and partisans that halftime is still a pressure point, a stage where cultural wins and losses get tallied like election returns.

Fox News Reacts to What 'May Have Been the Worst Halftime Show' in History: 'Not One Word of English!' https://t.co/xHEw0bnGVZ

— Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 9, 2026

Expect two reactions from the league next year: more “inclusive” bookings and more careful risk management. The NFL may lean into multicultural mainstreaming because the market rewards it. At the same time, it will likely avoid anything that resembles a slogan, a protest, or a direct jab at federal policy. The lesson of Bad Bunny’s night is blunt: even when the artist keeps politics off the stage, politics can still commandeer the broadcast.