Posted on 02/11/2026 3:24:18 PM PST by nickcarraway
Bad Bunny’s halftime performance at Super Bowl LX is the subject of many hot takes on Monday.
Despite appearances from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, many fans online were upset about the predominantly Spanish performance. This ongoing social media outrage is why Roc Nation, who books the Super Bowl halftime show, has to do something more universally beloved next season.
Listen, Bad Bunny’s performance objectively was not awful. Even if you couldn’t understand the lyrics, the stagework, choreography, and overall video production was first class. The special guests and Easter eggs were able to be identified by fans that weren’t familiar with Bad Bunny prior to the Super Bowl.
There’s no denying that the beats were groovy and even the stingiest Bad Bunny haters have to recognize that the “Together we are America” theme was supposed to be a unifying message during turbulent times in our nation.
But next year, the NFL absolutely has to get back to the basics.
After the Super Bowl’s opening night on Monday in San Jose, clips surfaced that most of the players participating in the NFL’s biggest game didn’t know any Bad Bunny songs. As the game grew nearer, similar clips from the Super Bowl’s Radio Row showcased big stars from the football world and beyond being unfamiliar with the work of Bad Bunny.
The NFL currently has an obsession with making the sport more global. During Super Bowl week, commissioner Roger Goodell didn’t slam the door shut about an international expansion team at some point.
But the majority of fans who currently tune into the Super Bowl are still American – despite the league’s ongoing global initiatives.
Check your political viewpoints at the door for this next part.
Last season, the older, boomer crowd was upset about Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance. The older demographic completely missed the cultural impact the performance had on the history of hip-hop music, headlined by Kendrick’s beef with Drake being dragged out on a national stage.
Not only did the older crowd completely miss Kendrick’s not-so-subtle jab at Drake, but they absolutely ignored his overall message about systemic racism in America. That message was part of the reason why the halftime show was booked – and most of the core audience didn’t grasp that overarching messaging.
In the current political climate, the NFL and Roc Nation tried to shoehorn a performance from an internationally-beloved Puerto Rican star that was meant to unify the country. The issue? Most of the NFL’s core demographic had never heard of the artist. Certainly, they didn’t understand the message, either.
Love it or hate it, these boomers are not quitting football as they promised they would when Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem one full decade ago.
Instead of fanning social media flames and backlash from older generations of fans who can’t comprehend why the Super Bowl is strategically placing these halftime shows, they should just take a year off and give their core demographic what they’ve been pounding the table for.
What’s Bruno Mars up to? Metallica? They can still jam, right? Maybe Taylor Swift finally gives the country what they've been waiting for?
People will still find plenty of reasons to complain, but it feels like the rest of us just need a year off from hearing about it.
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NFL needs to die of AIDS.
Don’t count on it. The NFL is hell-bent on making the NFL Brand global. They are jealous of the global success of the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League.
Someone should explain to the NFL that when people in Latin American countries love football, they mean something different.
I don’t care. I ain’t watching.
I’m with you on this one. I’m done with the national felon league for good.
(NFL needs to die)
Yes. Don’t forget their gay male cheerleaders
Puke 🤢🤢🤢 🤮🤮🤮
Perhaps they’ll branch out beyond the Americas and book the Saudi Kaaba Choir, the CCP Wet Market Singers, the Nigerian 419 Quartet, or the West Bengal Call Center philharmonic.
Then why would the NFL even GAF about “getting back to basics” to cater to the whims of inert losers like this? They’ll watch whatever stupid sh!t the NFL puts on the field and on the TV screen in front of them.
Good luck with that when you have a black music mogal worth over 2 billion calling the NFL halftime entertainment shots. Another black eyed for Commissioner Roger Goodell. (Worth 700 million) Nothing but out of touch elites poking normal Americans in the eye. FOAD to the both of them.
Other countries aren’t into football. They never will be. Maybe they should get back to the real game. I started watching the SB in the 70’s. Even the game has changed. Not for the better either.
Me neither. But why not just put on some marching bands, which is traditional? If the eyeballs are there, the ad revenue will be too.
Get a great college band or the prior. DCI. champion.
Moron dumps a bunch of praise on the performance and then says: “ But next year, the NFL absolutely has to get back to the basics.”
Why? If the performance was so good?
Bring out Weird Al. He’s had a long career and I never heard anything controversial from the guy.
I don’t care much at all about the NFL anymore...I like college football, but with NIL and never-ending portals, it is going to pot....
I don't now much about Bad Bunny, except all his success happened because of COVID.
I only saw a few seconds of it, but all I could think is: I've never seen so many fake plants in one place in my life.
The nfl is now The Toilet Bowl.
The NFL is dead to me.
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