“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” President Donald Trump said Monday on “Newsmax’s Greg Kelly Reports” while reacting to the news that Puerto Rican star, Bad Bunny, will headline the 2026 Super Bowl’s iconic halftime show. “I’ve never heard of him,” Trump said.
Known for his obsession with ratings, the US President has likely since been informed that the global superstar holds significant streaming records. Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” (2022) is Spotify’s most streamed album of all time. He was the most streamed artist on Spotify for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022. And this September, his residency finale, “Una Más”, became the most-watched solo-artist performance ever on Amazon Music.
The streamed performance concluded a series of 31 concerts held in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, that pumped millions into the Caribbean island’s struggling economy from July to September – during hurricane season. Estimates vary between $200 million (€172 million) and $700 million (€602 million).
How did Bad Bunny become famous?
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio was born in 1994 in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Bad Bunny – whose stage name was inspired by a childhood photo of him in a grumpy mood wearing a bunny suit – started uploading his music to SoundCloud when he was in college. In 2016, his song “Soya Peer” became a big hit on YouTube and led to a record deal.
In the years that followed, collaborations with stars such as Cardi B, J Balvin, Drake, and Rosalía greatly increased her fame.
Now dubbed the “King of Latin Trap”, Bad Bunny has won three GRAMMYs and 12 Latin GRAMMYs.
He knows how to generate buzz on social media, while building authentic connections with his fans. He has 49.5 million followers on Instagram and more than 35 million followers on TikTok.
A fashion icon, the musician subverts gender norms by embracing playful self-expression, nail art and mixing floral motifs and unexpected colors.
In addition to his unique sound that blends reggaeton, Latin trap, dancehall, hip-hop and other Caribbean references, he has also gained supporters by speaking out on issues such as Puerto Rican identity, women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, and social justice.
Despite the artist’s success, many people outside the Latin music scene were not familiar with his name until the National Football League (NFL) revealed in late September that Bad Bunny would be the halftime show star of the Super Bowl in February 2026.
A voice for Puerto Rico
“What I’m feeling is beyond me,” Bad Bunny said in a statement as soon as the announcement was made. “This is for the people 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.”
“He’s not an American artist,” Fox News host Tomi Lahren mistakenly claimed — a statement that was immediately debunked online, because everyone born in Puerto Rico — including Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — is automatically a U.S. citizen.
The conservative media influencer’s mistake highlights the fact that Puerto Rico’s political situation is complex. As an unincorporated US territory, the island has a special legal status. As US citizens, Puerto Ricans – also known as Boricuas -Can live, work, and study in any US state or territory and move from one place to another. They are subject to US federal laws, pay into Social Security and Medicare, but they cannot vote in US federal elections – unless they live on the mainland. An estimated 5.8 million people do so, according to 2021 census data.
During the presidential campaign, a comedian at a Trump rally called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.” Even though Trump distanced himself from the comments, the act prompted Bad Bunny to break his long-standing tradition of not meddling in national politics; He endorsed Kamala Harris, who promised more support to the island.
MAGA reacts to Super Bowl pick
Now the Super Bowl announcement is causing a backlash among members of the MAGA movement. While the NFL’s annual league championship game is traditionally seen as a unifying cultural event in America, some fans say they plan to boycott it.
Conservative political commentator Benny Johnson on Her post included photos of the star’s face decorated with pearls, her nails stylishly covered in dominoes.
“The NFL is self-destructing year after year,” Johnson said.
Many conservatives were already angered by this year’s halftime show, headlined by Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar. While much attention was paid to the rapper’s diss track against Drake, the performance also included symbols criticizing the rise of white supremacy and authoritarianism in America.
This is the seventh consecutive year the NFL has teamed up with Jay-Z’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, for its halftime program, which explains the artistically innovative selection of headliners.
Homeland Security Secretary makes threatening comments
Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, has announced that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will be “everywhere” at the 2026 Super Bowl. He also said that the NFL “will not sleep at night” about its decision to choose Bad Bunny as the halftime performer.
Bad Bunny previously revealed that they did not include any stops on the US mainland during their upcoming world tour, due to fears that ICE would raid their concerts.
Over the weekend, the music superstar hosted the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” and he joked about the reaction in his opening monologue: “I think everybody’s happy with it — even Fox News.”
He also spoke a few sentences in Spanish in a monologue, in which the Latino expressed pride and joy at the accomplishment and concluded: “If you don’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!” – Referring to the time left before the football event in February. Bad Bunny will make history by performing their set entirely in Spanish.
“This would be a great time to pass my bill to make English the official language of America,” far-right Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X in response to the show — even though Trump had already signed an executive order making English the country’s official language in March. Green added: “And the NFL needs to stop demonizing sexual displays during their halftime shows.”
Meanwhile, Bad Bunny’s music catalog has seen a surge in streams amid the backlash. And as various observers have noted, the NFL’s move is likely not about promoting diversity, but about increasing global ratings.
cool, like the new York Times Hypothetically, the political impact of Bad Bunny’s show could extend “long after the game’s final touchdown”.
Edited by: Brenda Haas