Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show was one big love letter to his native Puerto Rico, culminating in a message of pride in his home and the Americas, and an appeal for unity with the US.
The 14-minute set included guest performances from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, along with cameos from the likes of Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, Karol G, and Jessica Alba, who could be seen dancing on the porch of his famous casita, a staple of his shows designed to look like a traditional Puerto Rican home.
The 31-year-old, who, according to Spotify, was the most-played artist in the world in 2025, made history by being the first performer to play only in Spanish during a Super Bowl, which is often the most-watched event on US television. He did decide to say, “God bless America,” in English before naming the Central, South, and North American countries as the dancers carried their flags.
At the conclusion of the show, he carried a football with the English phrase, “Together, We Are America,” and a billboard behind them said, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.” However, Bad Bunny, real name Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, did not use his performance to make any explicit political statements against the current US administration.
Despite that, US President Donald Trump, who did not attend this year’s Super Bowl, called Bad Bunny’s set “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” on his social media platform Truth Social. He also said that “nobody understands a word this guy is saying” and that it was “an affront to the Greatness of America.” An alternative event, the All-American Halftime Show, was organised by Turning Point USA and was headlined by Trump-supporting singer Kid Rock.
The musician and rapper Bad Bunny performed in the United States for the first time since releasing his Grammy Award-winning album Debí Tirar Más Fotos (I Should Have Taken More Photos) last year at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Puerto Rico, which is a self-governing territory of the USA, was at the heart of everything in this performance, from his early emergence from a sugarcane field to a set that was meant to represent the sounds and sights of the place he calls home.
Transporting himself through a Latin landscape, with set pieces that included everything from a nail salon to a bar, the Grammy award winner reeled off a medley of his biggest hits, including Tití Me Preguntó, MONACO, and BAILE INolvidable. Family was also a major theme, from a young couple getting married in front of a large group of Latino dancers to the iconic scene where Bad Bunny gave his Grammy prize to a young child while his 2026 acceptance speech was playing on a small TV.
Climbing an electricity pylon – symbolising the infrastructure that was ruined during the devastating storm – and rapping at the same time, he appeared to pay tribute to the people who died in the 2017 Hurricane Maria. Bad Bunny further spread a message with his outfit – wearing a beige sweater emblazoned with the number 64.
It could represent the official death toll, which turned out to be significantly lower than the estimated thousands who died. President Trump’s administration was criticised at the time by Puerto Ricans who said it failed to provide the same federal support compared to hurricanes that had occurred on the mainland.
