Game over (for the Bad Bunny haters)
Well, I could not tell you a thing about that game – I’ve heard that it was a boring outcome for a boring match-up – but it does not matter: the real winner tonight was Bad Bunny, who delivered a raucous, intricate and wildly ambitious half-time show that exceeded already sky-high expectations. With the world watching and many in the US government actively rooting against him (you can guess who took to Truth Social already), the Puerto Rican artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio thoroughly stomped on the haters with an exuberant 13-minute show that both honored his roots and championed an expansive view of American unity.
It’s hard to overstate how much pressure Bad Bunny was under, as the first all Spanish-language half-time performer at a time when the US government is profiling Spanish speakers for its brutal immigration enforcement campaign. But Benito made the whole affair feel light as a feather, from the sugar cane fields to the bodegas to the rollicking casita party to a full-on real wedding (and surprise duet with Latino pop trailblazer Ricky Martin). Truly, this set was exquisite. While there was certainly political critique – catch that CONEJO sign, or the statement of flying a Puerto Rican flag next to a US one – the overarching message was unifying: “Together, We Are America,” read the football he lofted, victorious, above his head.
It was an undeniable high point in a night otherwise missing them – the ads were starry as ever, though eerily oriented more towards AI and weight-loss drugs than your usual Ford F-150 Americana. So it goes in the year 2026, when major cultural faultlines lie at every turn. And with that, we’re off to check on Benito’s mysteriously wiped Instagram…
And here’s a five-star review of tonight’s electric half-time show:
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