The Super Bowl halftime show gets lost in translation

The Super Bowl halftime show gets lost in translation

Was Bad Bunny's show a cultural unifier or divider?

Monday, February 9, 2026

Britt McHenry, The Spectator

Bad Bunny performs in the Apple Music Halftime Show during the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, at Levi's Stadium on February 8, 2026 in Santa Clara, California.

Bad Bunny strolled into a tropically transformed Levi’s Stadium for his first ever Super Bowl halftime show and kept his promise: He sang all of his songs as written, en Español.

If a healthy swathe of English-speaking Americans stared blankly at their screens wondering, “what am I watching?” Bad Bunny was undeterred. The same man who boycotted the contiguous United States just eight months ago due to the perceived prospect of ICE raids at his concerts looked confident and ironically, smug, commanding America’s musical zeitgeist moment on the mainland.

He began his show strolling through a quickly assembled Latin Margaritaville. Visually, the camera zoomed way too close to Bad Bunny’s face. We get it: The guy has a near-immaculate face card. The footage felt a little creepy, like we were watching home video or The Blair Witch Project . . . and it was reminiscent to the Weeknd’s Covid-era halftime performance five years ago. If you blinked, you might have missed TikTok influencer Alix Earle, Pedro Pascal, Jessica Alba and Cardi B in the background dancing. Hey, while her beau, Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs, is on the sidelines, why not join center stage – er, field. Can’t blame her.

Men on social media took note of the derrieres shaking among Bad Bunny’s dancers. It appears dozens of scantily clad women momentarily transcended the language barrier. Apparently, sex still sells.

In spite of the sensual nature to his show, Bad Bunny made a few pointed statements. A week ago, he made history as the first artist to win Album of the Year for a fully Spanish-language project with his album Debí Tirar Más Fotos at the Grammys. During his performance, Bad Bunny walked over to a little hispanic boy, presumably a nod to his native Puerto Rico and upbringing, and handed him the coveted Grammy award. The jumbotron behind Bad Bunny during his performance read, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”

Fellow Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin sang beautifully in a cameo and Lady Gaga – who crooned her parts in English – also graced the stage and danced alongside Bad Bunny, proving there was no lack of talented vocalists. The aerial angles of the show were stunning and the fireworks brought the appropriate level of pageantry and flair. You could argue there was no better musician to deliver heavy-handed political messages than Spotify’s most streamed global artist of 2025.

Bad Bunny ended his show shouting out every country in Central and South America – and Canada. A not-so-subtle dig at the prospective 51st state and the tariff policies of the Trump administration.

But, let’s keep it real: most viewers could not parse a word he said. There is a valid argument in questioning why a Spanish-language act is headlining for a predominantly English-speaking country. Is English America’s national language? No. But undeniably, it is the most-used language. Boomers across America probably grumbled or grabbed their remotes.

Puerto Rico is part of America and Bad Bunny is an American. Yet, a text rolled in immediately after his performance that read, “No English during a NFL halftime is insane.” (Lady Gaga excepted, of course.) This show was either seen as an artistic unifier of sorts or a declaration of a cultural divide. There is no in between.

Turning Point USA jumped on the opportunity to absorb fans disgruntled with, in their minds, an ideological selection by Jay-Z and his company Roc Nation. Jay-Z has selected the musical acts for the halftime show since 2019. Those fed up with his stewardship likely turned on their phones to TPUSA’s alternative performance headlined by Kid Rock and Brantley Gilbert. Polymarket tweeted that 5 million viewers tuned into this show.

Why conservatives and the Republican party persevere with Kid Rock as their preferred musical performer, a dated star who has not had a Billboard Top 100 single in 11 years, remains a mystery. But those viewers dismayed by Bad Bunny’s “EoO” weren’t left with any other choice.

Perhaps Bad Bunny impressed the globe with his halftime show. That was the goal for a league increasing international games every season. It wasn’t bad – better than expected and beat-inducing even for the rhythmically uninclined. But how about next year, Roger Goodell, let’s find that same creativity in a language we all can understand, por favor.

Written by

Britt McHenry

Britt McHenry is a writer and television journalist who has worked at ESPN, Fox News, ABC-7 DC and Fox 5 DC. She is a graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.