Bad Bunny’s performance during the Super Bowl 60 halftime show appeared to send one message — and it was directed at President Donald Trump without mentioning his name.
Unity. Togetherness. Diversity. Love.
At the end of the 13-minute performance, Bad Bunny walked toward the camera with the United States flag as his backup dancers held flags of other countries around him.
As Bad Bunny sang, the message, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” appeared on the scoreboard, with the letters in bold black text against a white background.
He also held a football that had the statement, “Together We Are America,” as he said, “God bless America,” a frequent end to Trump’s speeches.
Then, Bad Bunny listed the names of many countries, as translated from Spanish: “Whether it be Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Italy, the Antilles, United States, Canada … my motherland, my father, Puerto Rico, we are still here now.”
Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, performed alongside a diverse set of backup dancers. Celebrities Cardi B, Jessica Alba and Alix Earle had cameos, too.
The performance mostly aligned with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s comments during his news conference last Monday when he was asked if there was concern about Bad Bunny making a political statement.
“Bad Bunny, and I think that was demonstrated last night, is one of the great artists in the world,” Goodell said. “That’s one of the reasons we chose him. But the other reason is he understood the platform he was on and that this platform is used to unite people and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, with their talents and to be able to use this moment to do that.”
Bad Bunny has previously been vocal about Trump’s political ideologies and the tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, including at the Grammy Awards a week before the Super Bowl.
“Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say: ICE out,” Bad Bunny said at the beginning of his speech. “We are not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans. I know it’s tough not to hate these days…The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So please, we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love.”
Bad Bunny has avoided performances in the USA during his 2025-26 concert tour due to safety concerns for his fans during ICE raids.
His outspoken messages toward Trump had the president and MAGA calling for a boycott of the halftime show. It also led to the creation of an alternative halftime show that featured Kid Rock by the right-wing group Turning Point USA.
