If I told you that a 16x Grammy nominee, 6x Grammy winner, and recent winner of the Album of The Year Grammy in 2026 was the Super Bowl halftime show performer, you would probably say that’s reasonable. If anything, it’s actually fantastic. That person is none other than Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, also known professionally as Bad Bunny. His influence speaks for itself, having sold out concerts in mere minutes and having over 114 billion streams as of February, 2026. Over the years, his growth as an artist has been nothing but remarkable and his latest album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, is representative of that. An album that speaks of his Latino roots and heavy emotional messages, winning Album of The Year at the 2026 Grammys. 

     And yet, ~29% of Americans disapprove of his role as leading performer. It goes further to the actual NFL players themselves. In fact, ~41.4% of NFL players disagree with the decision behind the performer through an anonymous survey. One player even went as far as to say that “I always think it should be an American. I think they’re trying too hard with this international stuff.” 

     It begs the question, why on earth is there so much opposition to Bad Bunny? 

Ignorance or Malice?

     Let’s get one thing clear: Bad Bunny is an American. He is, by law, a U.S citizen and an American. He was born in Puerto Rico, a U.S territory, making him a U.S citizen by default. Either people are simply unaware of the status of Puerto Ricans and U.S citizenship, or some are intentionally lying to spread some sort of agenda, or even malice.  It seems as if there’s more than meets the eye. 

     Confusion may have been caused by the fact that he doesn’t speak English often, primarily singing in Spanish throughout his discography, leading some to believe that he had nothing to do with the U.S. After all, everyone in the U.S speaks English, don’t they? However, that doesn’t really make much sense. Previous to March of 2025, less than a year ago, the U.S. didn’t have English as their official language in its entire history. It’s only now through President Donald J Trump’s Executive Order that it’s recognized as the nation’s official language. Even so, it made sense why it wasn’t a thing before.

Germans, English, and Irish immigrants were the first to come through the east coast, with significant Chinese immigrants coming through the west coast. It wouldn’t make sense to make English the main language: there were so many different languages. After the Mexican American war and the integration of numerous Mexicans and Native Americans into the country, it only made the diversity even greater. To say Bad Bunny isn’t an “American” because he doesn’t speak English would be ignoring the ~80% of U.S citizens who speak other languages aside from English, with ~22% of them speaking another language at home. 

     In some cases, it’s intentional lies and misinformation being spread to the entire nation. A clear example of this being Turning Point USA, the non-profit organization founded by Charlie Kirk and Bill Montgomery. The organization, after seeing some backlash (which they also contributed to) towards Bad Bunny’s announcement as the halftime performer, decided to organize a “rival halftime show”. It’s been advertised as “The All-American Halftime Show,” with Turning Point USA stating the show “will be a unique, patriotic event proudly celebrating American culture, freedom, and faith.” This is more than just a competitive rival halftime show, this is deliberate erasure of what it means to be a U.S citizen. The idea of the halftime show not being “All-American” is straight up false considering Bad Bunny is a U.S citizen. The “patriotic” aspect suggests that Bad Bunny somehow represents the opposite, despite him representing a latino demographic that undeniably exists in the country. Turning Point USA is inherently lying to their readers, It’s here where we get a clearer picture on what exactly the issue is. 

The “Problem” With Bad Bunny

     I haven’t been fully honest with you; there’s something I haven’t mentioned that is actually very important. This wouldn’t actually be the first time Bad Bunny shows up to perform in the Super Bowl, he’s actually already done it. He performed as a guest with Shakira in 2020, who’s also of latino descent. The difference being that Shakira does speak fluent English, which maybe explains the difference in approval. Regardless, it makes no sense since Bad Bunny actually spoke some English in that performance. Not only does it disprove the claims that he isn’t capable of speaking English, but there were also no complaints at the time of that superbowl show, so why now? 

     The issue is not that Bad Bunny isn’t a “U.S citizen” or “an American.” Rather it’s because he’s not the “American” some people want to see. It’s hinted at with the anonymous NFL player mentioning how he views Bad Bunny’s performance as a push for “international stuff,” and it’s blatantly told through Turning Point USA’s halftime show. A Latino, in their eyes, is not representative of America’s patriotism and people. 

     The criticism of Bad Bunny is more than just surface level criticism or hate it’s an attempt at erasing the latino demographic in America and its representation, trivializing the latino culture as “un-American”. 

The Halftime Show Has Become More Than Just a Show 

     The Bad Bunny halftime show is no longer just a show; it’s now an outward expression of Latino-American culture and those who have lived in this country for decades. It’s these Latinos who make up ~20% of the U.S. military. It’s Latino farmers that make up ~73% of the U.S. agricultural workforce who ensure food arrives at supermarkets and the fridges of everyone in the country. It’s Latino construction workers that make up 31% of the construction workforce to ensure city infrastructure stays intact.​ To say that an artist like Bad Bunny, who many of those Latinos who’ve lived in the U.S. for decades identify with, isn’t worthy of performing because he “isn’t American” simply does not line up. 

     Bad Bunny IS an American, as much as an American can be. Representing the hardworking Latino population that resides in our nation, one that we depend on immensely. His performance IS patriotic. After all, what could be more patriotic than celebrating the culture and music of the almost 68 million Latinos who reside in America? And more importantly, the Latino community that resides in America are just as American as their next door Asian, White, African American, or Native American neighbor. The term “American” has never been, should never be, can never be defined by one single group of people; and no amount of marginalization will change that.