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Jilly_in_VA

(14,090 posts)
Sat Feb 7, 2026, 12:26 PM 13 hrs ago

MAGA is screaming foul over Bad Bunny's halftime show. Here's why the NFL doesn't seem to care.

On paper, Bad Bunny is the Super Bowl halftime performer you’d expect the NFL to hate. Most of the league’s owners lean Republican and give to Republican causes, and MAGA influencers have framed the Puerto Rican megastar as a “woke” musician who will bash the United States in Spanish and wear dresses during his performance. But as ESPN’s deep dive into the halftime decision notes, those NFL owners, as conservative as they may be, are looking to expand the NFL’s reach. That means reaching out to Latinos in this country and bumping up the league’s international footprint into regions that include Latin America. Indeed, “the massive Trump hater,” as MAGA commentator Benny Johnson called Bad Bunny last year, is exactly who the NFL wants and needs.

“I think it’s awesome, and I think our Latino fan base is amazing,” Charlotte Jones, the Dallas Cowboys’ chief brand officer and daughter of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, told Katie Miller — wife of the immigrant-bashing White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller — on Miller’s podcast in November about the selection of Bad Bunny as the halftime performer for Super Bowl 60. “We are on a global stage, and we can’t ever forget that. We have a mixed culture, and our whole society is based on immigrants who have come here and founded our country, and I think we can celebrate that.”

Forget “celebrate.” A “mixed culture” is something the MAGA world has decided it can’t even tolerate. That xenophobia is driving MAGA’s deportation push and the outrage to Bad Bunny. “To bring in a performer who is going to be the majority performing in Spanish, I think it’s sort of disrespectful to all the people who aren’t even going to understand what the hell is going on,” one conservative influencer told The Wall Street Journal.

President Donald Trump, who always picks division over unity, has called the Bad Bunny selection “ridiculous,” and said he and Green Day, the Super Bowl pregame act, are there to just “sow hatred.”

But in a Grammy award acceptance speech from a week ago that he started by saying “ICE out,” Bad Bunny explained, “We don’t hate them, we love our people, we love our family, and that’s the way to do it — with love.”

https://www.ms.now/opinion/super-bowl-lx-bad-bunny-halftime-show-nfl-needs

And TPUSA's "alternative" show is crap and will fall flat on it's azz. Meanwhile, I'll watch Bad Bunny even though I don't give a flying fuck about the Super Bowl (except I hope the Patriots lose)

17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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MAGA is screaming foul over Bad Bunny's halftime show. Here's why the NFL doesn't seem to care. (Original Post) Jilly_in_VA 13 hrs ago OP
"And TPUSA's "alternative" show is crap and will fall flat on it's azz." durablend 13 hrs ago #1
Riiiiight Jilly_in_VA 13 hrs ago #2
How will they know when to broadcast? The half time doesn't have a specific time? Does it? Srkdqltr 13 hrs ago #3
No. A football game generally lasts 3 hours with a 20 minute halftime underpants 12 hrs ago #6
Good points by Charlotte Jones. It's about eyeballs. Here are his social media followers underpants 13 hrs ago #4
The Dallas Cowboys have a huge "Latino fan base" MagickMuffin 13 hrs ago #5
I think there's another reason the NFL doesn't care BaronChocula 11 hrs ago #7
MAGA is about white supremacy JI7 10 hrs ago #8
The pressing issue at my house is Attilatheblond 10 hrs ago #9
Same here MustLoveBeagles 10 hrs ago #12
We're doing Air Fryer Jalapano poppers and Moscow Mules for our Puppy Bowl Attilatheblond 10 hrs ago #14
We don't do anything special for it MustLoveBeagles 10 hrs ago #15
Where is TPUSA's show being held? Sogo 10 hrs ago #10
The NFL builsiness model is capped Johonny 10 hrs ago #11
Hating Trump is not some fringe, radical position. Iggo 10 hrs ago #13
Woke is good for businss dlk 3 hrs ago #16
Yeah the screaming toddlers can go shove it. Initech 3 hrs ago #17

durablend

(9,005 posts)
1. "And TPUSA's "alternative" show is crap and will fall flat on it's azz."
Sat Feb 7, 2026, 12:29 PM
13 hrs ago

It will but they'll still claim eleventy trillion people watched it and "tuned out" the 'illegal' on the Super Bowl.

underpants

(195,571 posts)
6. No. A football game generally lasts 3 hours with a 20 minute halftime
Sat Feb 7, 2026, 01:23 PM
12 hrs ago

Games can take longer due to penalties, injuries, and the flow of the game. There tends to be more passing these days so the clock stops more often making the game longer. The clock stops on incomplete passes.

The Super Bowl tend to run longer because of more commercials and a 40 minute halftime (for the big show). This is a big adjustment for players who have a routine for 20 minute halftimes.

It’s set to kick off at 6:30 so halftime should start a little after 8:00.

underpants

(195,571 posts)
4. Good points by Charlotte Jones. It's about eyeballs. Here are his social media followers
Sat Feb 7, 2026, 01:13 PM
13 hrs ago

Instagram (@badbunnypr): ~50-51 million+ followers.
TikTok (@badbunny): ~35-40 million+ followers.
Spotify: Over 100 million followers with nearly 20 billion streams in 2025, making him the top global artist.
Twitter/X: ~5 million followers.

MagickMuffin

(18,214 posts)
5. The Dallas Cowboys have a huge "Latino fan base"
Sat Feb 7, 2026, 01:13 PM
13 hrs ago


I've never paid to attend any pro sports, however, I did work one year at Cowboy stadium. And there are a LOT of Latino's who attend and spend big bucks. On Thanksgiving one Latino fan gave me a twenty dollar tip because he was so happy the Cowboys were winning.

And on another note but related. I'm almost certain this is at all stadiums, but I know for a fact that Cowboys Stadium has facial recognition technology all throughout the stadium. Just a heads-up about the surveillance technology is everywhere within the system!






BaronChocula

(4,188 posts)
7. I think there's another reason the NFL doesn't care
Sat Feb 7, 2026, 03:11 PM
11 hrs ago

The Trash Corps Maga Moaners complain every year about something "woke" in the NFL: Super Bowl commercials, DEI, athletes expressing need for social justice, etc. But the moaners keep on watching.

JI7

(93,365 posts)
8. MAGA is about white supremacy
Sat Feb 7, 2026, 03:20 PM
10 hrs ago

They have said they are ok with a downturn in the economy in order to stop or limit immigration and increase the white population which they believe should always be a large majority.

This of course would be a disaster for the corporate types.

Attilatheblond

(8,524 posts)
14. We're doing Air Fryer Jalapano poppers and Moscow Mules for our Puppy Bowl
Sat Feb 7, 2026, 03:51 PM
10 hrs ago

What are you doing at your house?

Am a little sad the Vuvuzelas I ordered aren't going to be delivered before Puppy Bowl (got them for Not My President Rally) but the kazoos and tambourines got here already.

Sogo

(7,046 posts)
10. Where is TPUSA's show being held?
Sat Feb 7, 2026, 03:31 PM
10 hrs ago

If it's an outdoor venue, someone needs to fly a banner over it naming Kid Rock as a pedophile.

Have you seen some of his lyrics?

And they think Bad Bunny is bad....!

Johonny

(25,752 posts)
11. The NFL builsiness model is capped
Sat Feb 7, 2026, 03:34 PM
10 hrs ago

They simply must appeal to Europeans and Latin America to expand their revenue. That means moving on from what appeals to the Bible belt, to what appeals broadly to the world.

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