President Donald Trump criticized Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime performance Sunday night, calling it “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER,” and describing the show as a “slap in the face to our country,” following the Puerto Rican artist’s largely Spanish-language set at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Trump issued the criticism in a lengthy Truth Social post after the performance, writing, “It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence.” He added, “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World.”
The president went on to say, “There is nothing inspirational about this mess of a Halftime Show,” while predicting that “it will get great reviews from the Fake News Media,” and concluded the post by calling on the NFL to “immediately replace its ridiculous new Kickoff Rule.”
Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, delivered a 13-minute performance featuring a collection of his biggest hits, staged within an elaborate set inspired by Caribbean imagery, including sugar cane fields and a marketplace labeled “La Marqueta.” Throughout the show, he shined light on Puerto Rican culture and the Latino identity as a whole, performing predominantly in Spanish.
During one transition, Bad Bunny addressed the audience in Spanish, saying, translated on-screen, “It’s because I never, never stopped believing in myself, and you too, you too should believe in yourself.” The performance later expanded to include flags representing countries across the Americas, moving from Chile in the south to Canada in the north, before ending with Puerto Rico, his birthplace.
Near the conclusion of the set, Bad Bunny stood beside the U.S. flag and the Puerto Rican flag and shouted, “God bless America,” before listing nations throughout North and South America. A football bearing the message “Together we are America” was displayed.
The halftime show also featured high-profile guest appearances, including Lady Gaga, who joined Bad Bunny for a salsa-inspired performance, and Ricky Martin, who appeared later in the set. Fireworks closed the show during a rendition of Bad Bunny’s song “DtMF.”
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance came amid heightened political attention surrounding the artist. Just one week earlier, he made Grammy history when his album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos (I Should Have Taken More Photos)” became the first Spanish-language album to win Album of the Year. Accepting the award for Best Música Urbana Album, Bad Bunny opened his speech by saying, “Before I say thanks to God, I’m gonna say: ICE out!” He added, “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”
Bad Bunny’s selection as the halftime performer had already sparked criticism in some conservative circles, with objections surfacing months before the Super Bowl. In response, the conservative group Turning Point USA organized a counterprogrammed event dubbed “The All-American Halftime Show,” headlined by Kid Rock.
In Philadelphia, the Super Bowl performance was met with enthusiasm among Latino communities. Local organizations hosted “Benito Bowl” watch parties, celebrating the moment as a milestone for Puerto Rican and Latino representation. Adrián Rivera-Reyes, a co-founder of Philly Boricuas, told WHYY, “To see him get to this level and be so celebrated… It fills my heart… It makes me feel even prouder of being Puerto Rican.” He added, “His music is rooted in Puerto Rico, but that also includes the diaspora.”
Darly Santelises, one of the event organizers, described the cultural impact of the performance, telling WHYY, “Just being able to feel seen in this moment… we feel very low right now,” adding that visibility at a national event like the Super Bowl allows communities “to be seen and heard.”
As of publication, neither Bad Bunny nor the NFL had issued a public response to Trump’s criticism.
