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As blue, red and white fireworks filled the sky at the end of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show, a message filled the screen in all capitals: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
It was the enduring statement from a 13-minute spectacle that invited an estimated 135.4 million viewers into Bad Bunny’s world, with richly textured references to politics, history and Puerto Rican culture. The artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio transformed the pitch of the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, into his own love letter to the island, with cinematic set pieces including sugarcane fields, a house party, and a lively wedding ceremony featuring a surprise performance by Lady Gaga.
By contrast, the rightwing Turning Point USA’s All-American Halftime Show drew just 5.2 million viewers. The event promised to offer an alternative by celebrating “American culture, freedom and faith” and featured the country singer Kid Rock performing in a fedora and jean shorts against a stars and stripes backdrop, in a performance that appeared to be partly lip-synced.
Meanwhile, Bad Bunny tapped into just how broad a definition of “America” could be, shouting “God bless America” before reeling off a list of countries and territories including the US and “mi madre”, Puerto Rico.
On Truth Social, Donald Trump called Bad Bunny’s show “absolutely terrible, one of the worst”, and a “slap in the face to our country”. Piers Morgan later hit back at Trump, writing: “Couldn’t disagree more, Mr President. I absolutely loved Bad Bunny’s halftime show … Oh, and Spanish is 1st language for 50m+ Americans!”
Meghan McCain also showed her support, writing: “I’m sorry but I just genuinely question your taste level if you didn’t enjoy the Bad Bunny halftime show.”
Celebrities supporting Bad Bunny’s performance included the Grammy-award winning artist Kacey Musgraves, who wrote on X: “That made me feel more proudly American than anything Kid Rock has ever done.” Rapper Doechii also wrote: “Bad Bunny WOW ! Fucking, WOW . History.”
Country star Zach Bryan also mocked the alternative show, sharing a video of someone blocking Bad Bunny’s set with a hand and watching the Turning Point performance. “What kid rock actually thinks is happening across America,” he wrote in an Instagram story.
The Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho, whose film The Secret Agent is up for Oscars next month, also wrote: “What a beautiful and extraordinary thing, Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl reminding the US who they are and where they are.”
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, wrote: “America, the beautiful. THANK YOU, BAD BUNNY.” Previously, Newsom had declared Sunday “national Bad Bunny day” in California. Tom Brady summed up the overall response, writing “Amazing!!!!!!!!!” on an Instagram story.
In a five-star review, the Guardian’s Stefanie Fernández called it a celebration of “the love, the community and the absolute joy that we create together every day in spite of everything else”.
Earlier this month, Bad Bunny took home the album of the year Grammy for his 2025 release Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which blends traditional Puerto Rican genres with hip-hop and reggaeton. During one his speeches that night, he said: “We are not savages, we are not animals, we are not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans … The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love.”
Last year he was Spotify’s most-streamed global artist with more than 19.8bn streams, dethroning Taylor Swift, who had held that title for the previous two years.
The half-time show’s references to politics were subtle but frequent. On stage Bad Bunny carried the Puerto Rican flag of independence, the original flag of the territory that was outlawed until 1952 and is distinguished by its sky blue triangle. While performing a salsa version of her 2024 Bruno Mars duet Die With a Smile, Lady Gaga wore a dress in the same shade.
Ricky Martin guested and performed Lo Que le Pasó a Hawaii, a plea against gentrification and white tourism in Puerto Rico with a Spanish-language hook translating to “I don’t want them to do to you what they did to Hawaii.” He later wrote on social media: “I need several hours to process the tsunami of emotions I’m feeling.”
While performing El Apagón, Bad Bunny referenced the territory’s frequent power outages alongside dancers who climbed fizzling electricity pylons.
As well as showing the artist’s humble side, it also proved his pulling power with a house party segment, which featured stars including the rapper Cardi B, actor Pedro Pascal and the Colombian singer Karol G.
Ahead of the performance, Bad Bunny said: “I really want people to have fun. It’s gonna be a huge party. I want to bring what people can always expect from me, and a lot of my culture.”
