From San Juan to the Super Bowl: What Does Bad Bunny’s Halftime Show Mean for America?

BY: ISABELA RANGEL / MANAGING EDITOR

via Apple Music

The changing of the seasons brings its usual rhythms: the rustle of leaves, the uproar of football season, and, of course, the announcement of the headlining artist for the upcoming Super Bowl halftime performance.

 This year, autumn’s cool tune has been replaced with that of a reggaeton beat, as Apple Music announced late this September that Bad Bunny will be headlining the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. 

The company took to Instagram on September 28th to announce his performance, depicting the artist sitting atop a goalpost and simply but powerfully captioning it, “@badbunnypr is bringing Puerto Rico to the world’s biggest stage.”

This announcement comes amidst his noticeable absence in America while touring for his latest album, Debí Tirar Mas Fotos, released in January of this year. When the rapper revealed his international tour dates, many American fans were disappointed to find that his shows excluded the U.S., with the exception of a 30-date residency at El Cholí in his home Puerto Rico. 

Bad Bunny performing at his Puerto Rico residency ‘No Me Quiero Ir De Aqui’ (Getty Images)

The residency, titled “No Me Quiero Ir De Aqui,” allowed Bad Bunny to celebrate the album with the community closest to him while also surging the island’s economy with an inadvertent boost in tourism.

While the first nine shows were exclusive to locals, Bad Bunny’s stint brought in an estimated 600,000 fans to the island over the summer months, increasing Puerto Rico’s tourism sales significantly during their typically slow summer season. The international tour will formally kick off this November, with the rapper headlining stadiums in Europe, Australia, and Latin America. 

The U.S.’ exclusion from this tour did not go unnoticed, leading many fans to speculate as to why he would leave out such a pivotal market for his music. 

“There are many reasons why I didn’t show up in the US, and none of them were out of hate,” Bad Bunny told I-D magazine in an interview. “I’ve enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the United States.”

The decision ultimately stems from the concern around the increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) presence, out of fear that concert venues would be raided in search of undocumented immigrants. 

“People from the US could come (to Puerto Rico) to see the show. Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world,” He explained in the interview. “ But there was the issue that [expletive] ICE could be outside. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”

Bad Bunny ended his summer residency with a livestream of his final show, which broke the record as the most-watched single artist performance in the history of Amazon Music. Now, with the announcement of his halftime show, Bad Bunny is well on his way to achieving the next milestone in his career: to be the first Super Bowl halftime performer to do the show entirely in Spanish. 

With over 78 million monthly listeners and 11.5 billion streams in 2024 alone, you would think that Bad Bunny’s return to the U.S. would have been an announcement met with unequivocal excitement, right?

 Not exactly. 

His announcement comes in light of Spanish speakers and Latinos being actively targeted as  “illegal” migrants in the U.S by the Trump Administration, underlining this performance with a sensitive political context. 

Bad Bunny has long opposed Trump’s presidency and policies, and his outspoken stance on ICE while being a Spanish-speaking Latino has made him a mark for conservative commentators. The President himself has called the NFL’s decision an ‘absolutely ridiculous’ choice, while other online users have gone as far as to call for his deportation.

 In the days following Apple Music’s post, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noel has almost guaranteed that ICE will be “all over the place” at the 2026 Super Bowl, in hopes of discouraging the Latin singer. 

Critics of the announcement further shun Bad Bunny’s Spanish discography for not being “American enough” for a major football halftime show. Others comment on the logic behind purposefully leaving out the U.S. on tour, but then pivoting to headline one of the biggest American musical performances of the year. These points have convinced many to believe that this show is an attempted cash grab.

While the Super Bowl has never paid artists an appearance fee for the halftime show, it is true that potential ticket sales for the DTMF tour would have skyrocketed had he brought his personal tour to the U.S.

 So what statement is he trying to make? 

The album in itself is his statement. Debí Tirar Mas Fotos enveloped the Latino community and detailed the people, the language, and the love that they come with. 

It was a project that gave the world a snapshot of the vibrancy of Hispanic culture. Bad Bunny wrote a personalized love letter to his home, and felt that the best way to send it would be to personally hand-deliver it himself. His initial residency in Puerto Rico was meant to highlight the themes of his album and demand respect for a culture that’s being persecuted on the mainland. 

The backlash from the announcement also goes to show that many Americans are not aware of the fact that Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, making all Puerto Ricans birthright U.S. citizens. 

As critics feared, Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance will most likely not reflect the great American ideals that people have in mind. But it’s not supposed to. 

Bad Bunny’s halftime show will send a message that’s long been refuted by American media: The fact that Spanish Latin music is, has been, and will remain mainstream in the United States. To have a show centered around Puerto Rican culture is to have a show that is centered around America. He will use this performance to lend a voice to his people, to weave a patchwork of stories, nostalgia, and lessons, and to hold it up for all the country to see. 

The Super Bowl halftime show is no stranger to political movement, either. The visuals for Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show this past year bled red, white, and blue, all whilst highlighting the country’s ongoing political tensions. 

Even further, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s 2020 performance (with Bad Bunny!) depicted kids with sweaters that had the American flag on them in cages, spotlighting Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that tore countless families and children apart at the border. 

Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s 2020 Halftime Show Performance

In continuing a long tradition of people using art as a medium for protest, Bad Bunny will take the center field of Levi Stadium on February 18th. He will celebrate America in a different way, by highlighting a cultural group that makes up 20% of the nation’s population. He will celebrate those who brought families and ideas, and traditions to this country, and commemorate those who are being ripped away from it.

So for Americans, immigrants, and people everywhere: embrace Hispanic culture. Learn the Spanish lyrics you dance to, celebrate alongside our community, and tune into the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show on February 18th at 6:30 pm EST.