Puerto Rican pop star Bad Bunny’s half-time performance during this weekend’s Super Bowl has divided opinion since it was announced.
The 31-year-old singer has frequently used his lyrics and platform to draw attention to his homeland and comment on the political landscape in the US.
Since he was announced as the performer for the half-time show during Sunday’s game at the Levi’s Stadium in California, critics from the Trump administration and some of his followers have hit out at the decision.
The US president himself said he doesn’t plan to attend this year’s game, unlike last year, and he has derided Bad Bunny as a “terrible choice” of half-time performer.
But with 17 Latin Grammys and six Grammy Awards to his name (mostly recently adding the award for best album to his collection), there are plenty who are looking forward to the King of Latin Trap’s performance.
The National Football League (NFL) has also stood by its choice, firmly shutting down rumours that it was reconsidering changing performers shortly after Bad Bunny was announced in September.
So who is Bad Bunny, and why is his upcoming performance causing such a stir?
Who is Bad Bunny?
The singer was born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio in the Puerto Rican city of Bayamon.
Anamaria Sayre, co-host of Alt.Latino and curator and producer for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts told the Sky News Daily podcast in December that the singer’s popularity grew as he released music independently online.
She said by the time he released his first album, X 100pre, in 2018 he had already gained enough traction for it to “explode”.
While his popularity has been somewhat slower to travel across the Atlantic to the UK and Europe, he is one of the best-known Spanish-speaking performers and has been named the top global artist on music streaming platform Spotify for the past five years.
Despite his fame, the singer has kept his connection to Puerto Rico close, having completed a 31-show residency on the island – which is a self-governing, unincorporated territory of the US – from July to September, which was projected to have attracted hundreds of thousands of tourists.
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His last album, the Grammy-winning Debi Tirar Mas Fotos, was a fusion of reggaeton and salsa with more traditional styles of Puerto Rican music.
The album spent three consecutive weeks at no 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in early 2025 and returned to the top spot later that year.
“To call him a reggaeton artist would really be to oversimplify,” Ms Sayre said, adding: “I think what he does is music from Puerto Rico, and even then, it doesn’t fully encompass all that he has become.”
At the Grammys earlier this month, he became the first artist to win album of the year for a record sung entirely in Spanish.
Why has he caused controversy in the US?
Bad Bunny has made comments aimed at the Trump administration since Donald Trump first entered the White House in 2017. He also endorsed Mr Trump’s democratic opponent, Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race.
However, it was his decision not to take his tour to any venues on the mainland of the US that really hit headlines.
In an interview with i-D magazine last year, he said the decision to skip continental venues was largely because he was concerned about the mass deportation of Latinos in the country under Mr Trump’s tough immigration laws.
He said he and his team were “very concerned” about US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents being stationed outside his concerts.
The singer has also used his music to criticise US immigration law.
In the music video for his July 2025 song, Nuevayol, he appeared to mock the US president, using a voice that sounds similar to Mr Trump to apologise to immigrants.
Most recently, while accepting his Grammy for best album at the beginning of February, Bad Bunny made perhaps the most political speech of all the artists, saying: “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out.”
“We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens – we’re humans,” he added, referring to weeks of tension between citizens and ICE agents across multiple US cities.
“The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that’s more powerful than hate is love, so, please, we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love.”
What has the Trump administration and the NFL said?
When Bad Bunny was announced as the half-time show performer in September, Mr Trump hit out at the NFL, calling the decision “crazy”.
“I don’t know who he is,” he said. “I don’t know why they’re doing it. It’s, like, crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Right-wing commentators such as Benny Johnson also complained, saying Bad Bunny was a “Trump hater”.
During an interview with the head of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Mr Johnson asked whether ICE agents would be present at the Super Bowl, to which she said they would be “all over” the event.
She said people should only attend the event if they are “law-abiding Americans who love this country”.
The comments have recently been disputed by Cathy Lanier, the head of security for the NFL, who said on 3 February that there are no ICE operations planned for the day of the Super Bowl.
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The NFL have also defended their choice, with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell telling reporters earlier this week: “Bad Bunny is… one of the great artists in the world. And that’s one of the reasons we chose him.”
He said the singer understands the NFL is providing a platform “to unite people and be able to bring people together” rather than make the event about political matters.
What is the ‘alternative’ half-time show?
While the NFL has stood by its decision, conservative group Turning Point USA has announced an ‘alternative’ half-time show, which will take place at the same time Bad Bunny takes to the stage.
Named the All-American half-time show, the group announced that Kid Rock, the singer of All Summer Long, will perform, alongside country artists Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett.
Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet called his group’s show “an opportunity for all Americans to enjoy a half-time show with no agenda other than to celebrate faith, family, and freedom.”
