Americans woke up to the NFL’s latest provocation: Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican reggaetón star, has been announced as the headliner for the Apple Music Super Bowl LX halftime show at Levi’s Stadium on February 8, 2026. The league, in partnership with Roc Nation and Apple Music, made the reveal during a primetime broadcast, signaling a calculated bet on global streaming appeal over traditional American tastes.
Benito “Bad Bunny” Martínez Ocasio is undeniably a global phenomenon — a multiple Grammy winner with massive streaming numbers and a devoted fan base who celebrates his Spanish-language hits and cultural pride. He’s also openly political on issues like Puerto Rico’s status and immigration enforcement, and he has made headlines for avoiding U.S. tour dates amid concerns about ICE raids, which makes this choice more than just an entertainment booking.
Let’s call it what it is: the NFL is chasing woke credibility and international clicks while trampling on the expectations of millions of flag-waving Americans who want a halftime show that feels, well, American. Choosing an artist who has used his platform to attack American institutions and who sings largely in Spanish is a deliberate cultural signal from the league and its influencers — a signal that traditional fans are increasingly being taken for granted.
Conservatives aren’t merely cranky — this is about principles. The Super Bowl has long been the one night when the nation pauses for a shared spectacle, and throwing a politically outspoken, non-English headliner onto that stage during a time of heightened cultural division guarantees controversy and alienation. The league’s PR may call it diversity and modernity; hardworking Americans may reasonably see it as pandering to elite tastes at the expense of common-sense patriotism.
The backlash has already begun, with MAGA influencers and conservative commentators rallying online and even proposing nostalgia-driven alternatives, underscoring how polarized the country has become over culture and entertainment. This isn’t just about one artist; it’s about who controls our national story and whether the platforms that reach 100 million viewers a night will continue to sideline the majority’s values for cultural signaling.
The NFL and its corporate partners will say ratings and relevance guided this pick, pointing to younger, multilingual audiences and streaming metrics. But when relevance becomes an excuse to elevate artists who openly denigrate American institutions or ignore the linguistic preferences of a large swath of viewers, the league risks a costly miscalculation — not just in ratings, but in trust from fans who pay the bills and watch the games.
Patriots should be clear-eyed about what this choice represents: an industry comfortable prioritizing cultural messaging over unity and common-sense entertainment. Speak with your dollars, your attention, and your voices if you disagree with the direction of our biggest cultural stages, because if we don’t defend the traditions that bind us, someone else will happily rewrite them without asking.
