Some conservative football fans online are expressing outrage after the NFL secured one of the world’s biggest pop stars — who is also a critic of U.S. President Donald Trump — to headline the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show.
Bad Bunny has topped the Billboard Hot 100 with several tracks from his latest album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS this year, and his 2022 album Un Verano Sin Ti is the most streamed album in Spotify history.
But conservative commentators say they’re upset that the Puerto Rican singer and rapper might use the stage to criticize Trump, and are taking aim at his gender-fluid style of dress and the fact he mainly sings in Spanish and not English.
“This is not a pick designed to unite football fans or let people just enjoy the show. It was a pick designed to divide fans and no doubt Bad Bunny will find some way to push a woke message,” conservative activist and filmmaker Robby Starbuck said on X.
Stacy Lee Kong, a Toronto-based culture critic and founder of media brand Friday Things, says Bad Bunny has wide appeal even outside of the large U.S. Spanish-speaking audience.
Apart from his massive fan base that will likely tune in for the performance, Kong says many of those upset about the choice will potentially watch in anger so they can “post a hot take” online.
Oh fun. 🙄 <br>No songs in English should not be allowed at one of America’s highest rated television events of the year… not just for sports. <a href=”https://t.co/Q4Q1ZPJySC”>https://t.co/Q4Q1ZPJySC</a>
—@DanicaPatrick
“From a purely mercenary business perspective, it’s a smart choice,” she said.
Bad Bunny previously performed at the Super Bowl in 2020, when he made a surprise appearance alongside Shakira and Jennifer Lopez for the latter artists’ halftime show.
The NFL, Apple Music and Jay-Z’s entertainment company Roc Nation announced the choice Sunday.
Singer previously declined U.S. tour, citing ICE raids
Bad Bunny, whose full name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, recently wrapped a sold-out 31-show residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He chose not to tour the mainland U.S., saying in an interview that he was worried about raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in light of mass deportations of primarily Latinos.
“But there was the issue of — like, f–king ICE could be outside [my concert],” he told i-D magazine. “And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
Some have called him hypocritical for then agreeing to the halftime show, which Kong says is a fair point.
“ICE specifically targets people at major sporting events all the time,” she said, adding she would like to know how he plans to keep his team protected at the event, which will take place next February at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Corey Lewandowski, who serves as senior adviser to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, seemed to suggest ICE will be doing enforcement at the Super Bowl.
“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else,” he said in an interview on The Benny Show with conservative commentator Benny Johnson.
History of criticizing Trump
Bad Bunny has a history of criticizing Trump, going back to 2017 when he took aim at the U.S. president’s response to Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico. He has also been a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and has opposed the idea of Puerto Rico becoming a U.S. state.
“I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader,” he said in a video last year.
Latinos are reportedly the fastest-growing NFL fanbase.
But Kong says the choice may feel like a “betrayal” to Trump-supporting football fans, who feel like the NFL is “their space,” to have the league choose a “decolonial, Spanish-speaking, very political, very anti-Trump person” take centre stage.
This is who was just picked to lead the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show <a href=”https://t.co/T7OWpmqrrj”>pic.twitter.com/T7OWpmqrrj</a>
—@EndWokeness
Johnson of The Benny Show described Bad Bunny as a “massive Trump hater” and “anti-ICE activist” in a post on X, adding, “The NFL is self-destructing year after year.”
Some went so far as to call Bad Bunny “demonic,” while others suggested 1990s rockers Creed or noted Trump supporter Kid Rock would have been better choices.
Rapper Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 halftime performance stirred up a similar outrage cycle online and broke viewership records, topping Michael Jackson’s 1993 record by pulling in 133.5 million viewers.
