The Super Bowl LX Halftime Show featuring Latin trap artist Bad Bunny faced a storm of backlash across the United States on Sunday night, with many viewers labeling it one of the most controversial performances in the game’s history, according to Fox News.
President Donald Trump led the criticism, blasting the show as “one of the worst ever.” In a fiery Truth Social post, Trump called the event “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!”
“It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence,” Trump continued. “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World.”
Conservative commentators and influencers echoed Trump’s anger, swarming social media with complaints about the halftime show being un-American. Many critics argued that the show being almost entirely in Spanish alienated the core Super Bowl audience. Some even tied the set to ongoing national disputes about immigration and border security, accusing the NFL of promoting a political message rather than entertainment.
In a post on X, Jon Root wrote, “The NFL having a Super Bowl Halftime Show where their performer sings ENTIRELY in Spanish & waves other nation’s flags, is 100% a political statement. Bad Bunny will go down as the worst halftime show in the history of the league,” adding, “America deserved better for its 250th birthday.”
In another comment, Paula Scanlan posted to X, “maybe the half time show is actually just a competition to see if it can get worse each year.”
The controversy swelled online as more viewers claimed the performance felt more like a political statement than a halftime show. The closing message displayed at Levi’s Stadium — “The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate is Love” — only fueled the perception that the NFL had allowed a “woke” political agenda to dominate what should have been a unifying moment.
Bad Bunny’s outfit also drew scrutiny; his jersey, emblazoned with “Ocasio 64,” was widely interpreted as a reference to the contested Hurricane Maria death toll in Puerto Rico.
Many football fans — including several well-known sports figures — opted to skip the show entirely, instead tuning in to Turning Point USA’s alternative “All-American Halftime Show” starring Kid Rock. Among those who preferred the patriotic performance were Pro Football Hall of Famers Eric Dickerson and Brett Favre, as well as former ESPN host Sage Steele. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed that President Trump watched the Kid Rock event, saying the president “would much prefer a Kid Rock performance over Bad Bunny.”
Despite the uproar, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defended the choice to feature Bad Bunny. He praised the Puerto Rican artist as “one of the great artists in the world” and said the league believed he could “unite people” through “creativity.” That message, however, fell flat with many critics who saw the show as out of touch with American audiences and actually dismissive of cultural unity.