The Puerto Rican rapper further stirred the pot when he was the host of Saturday Night Live's premiere on Oct. 4. Photo via YouTube @SNL.
On Sept. 28, Grammy-winning rapper Bad Bunny, whose off-stage name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, announced that he will be performing at the Super Bowl LV halftime show. Bad Bunny, who is often called the “King of Latin trap,” secured his role as a successful actor and fashion icon.
The announcement for the halftime show performer, however, received a ton of backlash and anger, despite Bad Bunny’s success and fame. Due to Ocasio’s strong stance against Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and his strong stance against President Donald Trump, many football fans were unhappy with the NFL’s choice.
Most critics believe that Ocasio should not be the halftime performer due to his political stances, but also his opinions on immigration. In addition, many NFL fans pointed out that many of Ocasio’s lyrics are in Spanish, and not English, making it “difficult to understand.”
Ocasio has had a strong stance against ICE due to the many issues with his tours and concerts in the U.S. After his fifth studio album, “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a pasar mañana,” was released in 2023, his 2024 tour hit several states across the U.S. Now, his upcoming tour in 2025, he has decided to have zero U.S. tour dates.
The reason for this is because of ICE’s presence in many places where they believe Hispanic individuals will be. With Ocasio being a huge staple in the Hispanic community, he has said, “But there was the issue of — like, f—— ICE could be outside (my concert). And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
After the announcement that Bad Bunny will be the 2025 Super Bowl LV performer, Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary, stated that ICE will be “all over” the event. Noem stated towards NFL officials, “They won’t be able to sleep at night because they don’t know what they believe, and they’re so weak, we’ll fix it.”
Following the Super Bowl LV announcement, Ocasio was the host of Saturday Night Live’s 51st season premier on Oct. 4. He began his opening monologue addressing all of the commotion for the upcoming Super Bowl performance, humorously stating, “I’m very happy and I think everyone is happy about it, even Fox News.”
Quickly after Ocasio switched to his native language, saying in Spanish, “Especially all of the Latinos and Latinas in the world here in the United States who have worked to open doors. It’s more than a win for myself, it’s a win for all of us.”
Ocasio continued, then stating in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.” The monologue further divided fans and NFL viewers who disagree with his political stance, questioning his opening monologue for calling out people who are not bilingual. Conservative channels like Fox News openly stated their beliefs of their dissatisfaction with the Puerto Rican rapper, which resulted in an unexpected clap back.
Throughout the mixed reactions of Bad Bunny’s future performance at the halftime show, his stance on what he believes stayed undeniable.
“Our footprints and our contribution in this country, no one will ever be able to take that away or erase it,” he stated.