Photo Credit: Doja Cat, Bad Bunny, SNL cast member Chloe Fineman / NBC
Bad Bunny kicked off the new season of SNL with a bilingual monologue calling out the conservative backlash to his upcoming Super Bowl halftime gig.
Bad Bunny doesn’t care if you’re upset about his upcoming gig as the Super Bowl halftime show headliner. “I’m very happy,” he said during his bilingual monologue kicking off Season 51 of Saturday Night Live this weekend. “And I think everyone is happy about it. Even Fox News.”
The show then played clips from Fox News commentators who have criticized the NFL for booking a Spanish-language artist and called out Bad Bunny’s recent remarks about not performing in the continental United States on his latest tour. But the clips were edited to chop up the conservative pundits’ comments and make them collectively say, “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician, and he should be the next president.”
Jokes aside, the Puerto Rico native said in his native tongue that he appreciates those who are genuinely excited for his upcoming Super Bowl performance. “Especially all of the Latinos and Latinas in the world and here in the United States who have worked to open doors,” said Bad Bunny in Spanish. “It’s more than a win for myself; it’s a win for all of us. Our footprints and our contribution in this country, no one will ever be able to take that away or erase it.”
“If you didn’t understand what I just said,” the star added cheekily in English, “you have four months to learn.”
The announcement of Bad Bunny headlining the halftime show has left the hard-right MAGA faction foaming at the mouth, with Department of Homeland Security advisor Corey Lewandowski saying that ICE will be on hand at the Super Bowl. That’s after Bad Bunny’s prior remarks about not planning to hit the continental U.S. during his upcoming tour in order to avoid ICE raids.
But is Bad Bunny—who just played a 31-show residency in his native Puerto Rico and boosted the island’s local economy by a previously unheard of amount—really such a divisive figure? Truthfully, unless you’re deeply embedded in the Trump fandom, not really.
“This obsession with instilling fear and destroying any fun or entertainment in the country on behalf of your political message is gross,” said progressive commentator Ana Kasparian on Friday’s episode of “The Young Turks.”
And that’s kind of the point. According to Molly Jong-Fast in an opinion piece on The New York Times, “Let’s face it: Woke is good for business.” It’s the same reason, Jong-Fast writes, that Jimmy Kimmel’s first show after his highly controversial suspension saw massive viewership, “that ‘South Park’ is having its best ratings in years, and that Target’s sales are off since it dropped its DEI efforts.”
Early polling shows that the public blames Republicans and Republican-controlled Congress for the recent U.S. government shutdown by 47%. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is using it as an opportunity to fire more government employees; any firings only draw the ire of the public.
How is this related to the Super Bowl? Because the public loves its entertainment, and the vast majority of Americans don’t seem to care one way or another who’s playing the Super Bowl—halftime show or otherwise. We as a people just like our entertainment, especially in such uncertain times; the desire for escapism is perhaps at its peak since the pandemic.
At the end of the day, it’s actually a good sign that the MAGA faction doesn’t like Bad Bunny, because he’s one of the biggest pop stars in the world. Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show last February was the most-watched performance in history, even breaking Michael Jackson’s long-held 1993 record.
Advertisers know where the money is, and it’s at the Super Bowl halftime show, with mega-stars like Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar. It’s time to move the ball down the field.
