Bad Bunny is going to host the Super Bowl LX halftime show. Period. He was asked, and accepted, to play the gig by Roc Nation and the NFL. What wasn't done, and shouldn't have been, was the NFL putting out a poll to fans of who should perform at halftime. The league is smarter than that.
Still, conservative groups are seemingly steamed that the Latin hip-hop icon was selected. His great sin appears to be that he doesn't like ICE raids, and he does his songs in Spanish. Bad Bunny is from Puerto Rico, after all, and Spanish is his first language.
Many misconceptions surround the performer, at least from conservative groups. Some don't think a non-American should do the halftime show (which is ridiculous since so many non-Americans already have), but those people do not seem to grasp that Bad Bunny is American. A fourth-generation one.
Roger Goodell talks about the backlash to Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl LX halftime show
An online petition is circulating to have Bad Bunny replaced by George Strait. Will the NFL or Jay-Z, who owns Roc Nation, care? Of course, not. And they shouldn't. That would be giving in to the bullies. The Latin star is worthy and popular enough to play the gig and do a fantastic job.
Thankfully, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is speaking out about the pushback, too. Goodell is a smart guy and a great marketer, and he knows, whereas some conservative groups clearly don't, that there is no such thing as bad press. More talk, positive or negative, about Bad Bunny and Super Bowl LX is a good thing.
Speaking with the media at the NFL's fall meeting this week, Goodell said, "(Bad Bunny is) one of the most popular entertainers in the world...It’s an important element to the entertainment value. It’s carefully thought through. I would say I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. We have hundreds of millions of people watching, but I have full confidence it’ll be a good show."
Those who don't like that Bad Bunny doesn't perform in English may not watch. But because of all the blowback, as Goodell puts it, the likelihood that even more people watch the halftime show in February 2026 is great. Maybe some who don't think they like Bad Bunny will become fans.
For those who don't watch, that's OK, too, of course. Maybe you will be busy going to the bathroom or getting pizza. Just know you will be missing a guaranteed fantastic show, and all free, too.