On February 8th, the NFL’s all-American football spectacle is back with its Super Bowl halftime musical extravaganza. The performance has become one of the most coveted slots on the U.S. musical calendar, and this year the NFL has courted one of the biggest artists in the world: Bad Bunny.
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, the 31-year-old trapero, was crowned Billboard’s Artist of the Year in 2022. He was the most-streamed artist on Spotify from 2020 to 2022 and 2025. He has over 100 billion total streams, more than 83 million monthly listeners, and over 107 million followers on the music platform.
His latest 2025 album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, was a top album, while Un Verano Sin Ti remains a massive success, contributing to his 3 Grammys and 17 Latin Grammys.
This will be the first time that a Latino American artist will headline the halftime show, and another in NFL history. He is expected to sing and rap only in Spanish.
That’s one of the reasons Bad Bunny was a controversial pick among the ultra-right, who have been outspoken against him
“Our communities are being targeted and killed and deported, and [there are] calls to deport Bad Bunny, and a white supremacist alternative halftime show is being created.” – Vanessa Diaz
So, while we wish the teams and their fans luck in the Super Bowl, we, at Latino USA, are talking less about pigskin… and more about Bad Bunny.
For this episode, Maria Hinojosa speaks with Vanessa Diaz, Co-Author of P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance, Antonia Cereijido, Host of LAist’s Imperfect Paradise; Tess Garcia, Culture Journalist. Together, they talk about the significance of a Puerto Rican Spanish-language artist taking center stage, speculate about the performance, and question the NFL’s motives.
Featured photos: Getty Images, @badbunnypr.
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Episode Credits:
Producer: Monica Morales-Garcia
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Fact Checker: Roxana Aguirre
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Executive Producers: Peniley Ramírez and Maria Hinojosa
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