The 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show featured Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, also known by the artist name, Bad Bunny. The show highlighted many aspects of Ocasio’s Latino heritage, Puerto Rican culture and made numerous nods to the United States’ current political agenda.
The show did an amazing job of instilling true American patriotism in all of its viewers. The very upbeat “danceable” music, along with the engaging performance, allowed anyone to enjoy the show regardless of whether or not they spoke or understood Spanish.
Notable aspects of the show included the massive sugarcane field, covering much of the football field, the inclusion of many real small businesses,“La Casita”, the appearance of Ocasio’s recently won Grammy Award, a wedding scene-which was later confirmed to be a real marriage-a reference to Puerto Rico’s power outage struggles, a football printed with the words “TOGETHER, WE ARE AMERICA,” a shout out to all of the countries in the Americas and surprise performances from artists Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. The show was performed almost solely in Spanish, with the exception of Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl rendition of her hit “Die with a Smile.”
The performance inspired positive responses from many people on the internet, including celebrities such as Kasey Musgraves, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Camila Cabello, Doechii, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Jonas, Alex Warren, Robert Irwin, Laufey, Elmo of Sesame Street and many more.
However, not all responses to the show were positive. Many viewers believed Bad Bunny was unfit for the Super Bowl performance due to the fact that his music is primarily in Spanish. Some people also posed the argument that Bad Bunny was not an American artist, despite having been born in Puerto Rico, which is a U.S. territory, making him a US citizen by birth.
Even if Ocasio wasn’t an American citizen, there have been many non-American artists that have performed the Halftime Show including Paul McCartney (UK), The Rolling Stones (UK), U2 (Ireland), Shania Twain (Canada), Coldplay (UK), The Weeknd (Canada), Phil Collins (UK), Enrique Iglesias (Spain), The Who (UK), Celine Dion (Canada) and Rihanna (Barbados). Regardless, none of these performances received the same backlash that Bad Bunny’s did. Such backlash is further attributed to the artist’s opposing stance on the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The negativity eventually sparked the creation of a “MAGA-friendly” halftime show, organized by Turning Point, featuring Kid Rock.
Soon after Bad Bunny’s performance, President Donald J. Trump expressed his derogatory opinion in a post on his public Truth Social account.
“The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and does not represent our standards of Success, Creativity or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying…There is nothing inspirational about this mess of a Halftime Show…” Trump said.
Despite the negativity, it is clear that Bad Bunny’s performance was a hit. Post show, Ocasio’s listens on Apple Music were up by 7 times their usual amount. CBS reports that the show had an estimate of 135 million viewers, surpassing the halftime viewing record, previously held by Kendrick Lamar with 133.5 million viewers. Even before the performance, Bad Bunny was known worldwide. In 2025, he won top artist for the 4th time with 19.8 billion streams. Not surprisingly, only about 6.4 million people viewed the Turning Point performance.
Ocasio ended his performance saying “God bless America,” and listing many of the countries in North, South, and Central America, emphasizing unity and expanding the idea of “America” to include more than just the United States.
