In a supercharged atmosphere, Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny celebrated his native archipelago and all of Latin America on Sunday during the Super Bowl halftime concert. Although he was not mentioned, Donald Trump called his performance "an affront to the greatness of America."

Published on: 02/09/2026 - 03:43 Modified on: 02/09/2026 - 03:48

To display this YouTube content, it is necessary to authorize audience measurement and advertising cookies.

An extension in your browser appears to be blocking the loading of the video player. To be able to watch this content, you must disable or uninstall it.

No mention of Donald Trump or his migration policy, but an ode to his roots. Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny transformed the Super Bowl halftime show in Santa Clara (California) on Sunday February 8 into a celebration of his native archipelago and all of Latin America.

To display this Instagram content, it is necessary to authorize audience measurement and advertising cookies.

This did not prevent the American president from denigrating his performance, deemed “absolutely terrible, one of the worst”. He also called the Bad Bunny concert "an affront to the greatness of America."

To display this Truth Social content, it is necessary to authorize audience measurement and advertising cookies.

“No one understands a word this guy says,” wrote the American head of state on his Truth Social network, a few minutes after the end of the show, Bad Bunny singing and speaking almost exclusively in Spanish, spoken by more than 41 million people in the United States, according to official figures.

To (re)readBad Bunny, Green Day and MAGA: the Super Bowl, an arena more political than ever

The event was one of the most anticipated in the history of the Super Bowl Halftime Show, the concert organized during the final of the NFL American football league.

The potentially explosive political dimension added to the appeal of the man who is today the most popular artist in the world, composing a cocktail never seen before.

But if he brought his committed songs and his cultural universe to the lawn of Levi's Stadium, Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, his real name, avoided criticism and indictments.

Accompanied at all times by a troupe of dancers, Bad Bunny strolled through the alleys of a Puerto Rican village recreated for the occasion, with a beauty salon, ice cream seller (piraguas) or domino players, performing several of his standards.

“Titi Me Pregunto”, “Nuevayol” and “Monaco” resonated in the speaker, while an impressive line-up of distinguished guests from the Hispanic world in the broad sense, from actor Pedro Pascal to singer Karol G, including Cardi B, swayed.

The biggest surprise came from the appearance of Lady Gaga, who delivered a convincing salsa version of her hit song "Die With a Smile", Bad Bunny having replaced Bruno Mars for the occasion. Other guests: Ricky Martin and Daddy Yankee, Puerto Ricans.

A committed artist

Dressed in a cream-white double-breasted suit and matching sneakers, Bad Bunny never deviated from his usual relaxation and treated the audience to some pranks, including the (prepared) collapse of the roof of a shed on which he was.

He concluded the show by hijacking the "God Bless America" ​​so dear to many in the United States to make it a slogan to glorify the entire continent, with a procession of Latin American flags.

For Duane Welty Rivera, a Puerto Rican supporter of the Seahawks present in Santa Clara, politics took second place for such a format, only counting "energy". “We need to focus on the fact that we are united,” he stressed, even though Puerto Rico has a hybrid status and is not fully part of the United States.

Quite early in his career, the native of Bayamon positioned himself on the political field, with the title “Afilando los cuchillos” (2019), demanding the departure of Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello, accused of corruption and who will eventually resign. He will then evoke, pell-mell, overtourism, immigration, racism or gentrification, even in his most recent opus, the conceptual “Debi tirar mas fotos”, the most committed of all.

Also read: Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl: how did the Puerto Rican become a symbol of resistance?

Incidentally, the whimsical thirty-year-old has regularly denounced, among other things, Donald Trump's hard line on immigration with, as a highlight, his outing, a week ago, during the ceremony of the Grammy Awards, American music awards.

There was a call to put "ICE out", in reference to the American immigration police, which he did not mention on Sunday. “We are not animals (...), we are human and we are Americans,” chanted the Puerto Rican artist, winner of three trophies including album of the year.

As soon as his invitation to Santa Clara was announced at the end of September, several elected officials and figures from the American right condemned the selection of Bad Bunny and the rock group Green Day, a critic of President Donald Trump, who spoke of a "horrible choice".

A petition calling for Bad Bunny to be replaced by 73-year-old country singer George Strait has garnered more than 130,000 signatures.

The Turning Point organization, created by conservative polemicist Charlie Kirk, assassinated in September, organized an alternative concert called "The All-American Halftime Show", with three country artists and the Trumpist rocker Kid Rock.

With AFP

Keywords associated with the article

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.