Political Backlash to Bad Bunny’s Halftime Show: “The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate is Love.”
- Julia Perian
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
On February 8, 2026, Puerto Rican musician Benito Ocasio, known as Bad Bunny, headlined the 60th Super Bowl halftime show. After the NFL announced Bad Bunny as the halftime performer, right-wing social media users and members of the Trump administration heavily criticized the choice.
Bad Bunny endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, following comments made by Trump calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” He has also been an outspoken critic of ICE and the lack of government response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
Even on the Grammy stage, Bad Bunny has used his growing platform to advocate for Puerto Rican and immigrant rights. In 2026, Grammy speech accepting the award for Best Música Urbana Album, he stated, “we are not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans,” he continued. “I know it’s tough to know not to hate on these days…The hate gets more powerful with more hate.”
Bad Bunny’s scope of influence is undeniable; he was the number one most globally streamed artist on Spotify in 2025, a title he also claimed in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Further, his Super Bowl performance averaged 128.2 million viewers, making it the third most-watched halftime show in history. It also amassed over 4 billion views across all social media platforms, making it the most-consumed halftime show of all time.
Despite this large musical following, Trump told Newsmax that he had “never heard” of Bad Bunny, calling the choice “absolutely ridiculous.”
Department of Homeland Security adviser Corey Lewandowski appeared on “The Benny Show” and told viewers it is “so shameful that [the NFL] decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much to represent them at the halftime game.”
In response to the NFL’s choice, right-wing group Turning Point USA launched an alternative All-American Halftime Show, featuring Kid Rock and country artists Brantley Gilbert, Gabby Barrett, and Lee Brice.
According to a YouGov poll, 24% watched the All-American Halftime show, while 46% of US adult citizens watched the Bad Bunny Halftime show. The rivaling performances served as a glaring symbol of the partisan divide encroaching on many aspects of American culture.
This divide is reflected in polling data. 73% of Democrats watched the Bad Bunny halftime show, compared to 29% of Republicans. Similarly, 12% of Democrats watched the All-American halftime show, compared with 44% of Republicans.
The performance itself featured several symbolic and cultural references to Puerto Rico. One set mimicked Puerto Rican sugarcane fields, a crop integral to Puerto Rico’s economy and a major factor in Puerto Rico’s colonial history. Dating back to the 1500s, the Taínos, the indigenous people of Puerto Rico, were forced into agricultural labor for sugar production by Spanish colonizers.
He also paid homage to traditional Puerto Rican musical instruments, and included nail technicians, boxing, domino players, and barber shops – all cultural nods to Puerto Rico. During his song “El Apagón,” meaning the blackout, the set included light poles, a reference to the frequent power instability in Puerto Rico.
Above all, the performance centered around American and Latin American unity. Behind the performers, the set included a billboard which read “the only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
He concluded the performance dancing with a large group of people, all of whom held various Latin American flags. He held up a football that read “Together, we are America,” then spiked it and exited the stage.
Following the performance, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” He added, “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying.”
Several Republican lawmakers then urged the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the performance.
“The woke garbage we witnessed on Super Bowl Sunday needs to be INVESTIGATED and put to an END,” Representative Randy Fine (FL-R) wrote on X. Fine also posted the letter he wrote to Brendan Carr, the Chair of the FCC, stating that Bad Bunny’s performance included sexually suggestive content and explicit language.
However, the FCC investigation concluded that the performance did not violate any rules, finding that the performance did not include explicit language.
From the Grammys to the Super Bowl, music and pop culture are becoming increasingly political. While some argue that music should not be political, music has been a quintessential form of political resistance throughout history.
The FCC investigation marks a broader trend of the Trump administration using government agencies to target political adversaries, potentially threatening musicians’ ability to use their artistry and platforms to make such stances.
This controversy, however, reflects more than just the political nature of music; while music has always had political aspects, the American public’s divisive reaction to this music is what makes the controversy around the Super Bowl unique, reflecting a larger trend of increasing political division.