Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show wasn’t just a performance—it was a declaration of belonging that reverberated across continents.
When the Puerto Rican superstar closed his historic set with “God Bless America,” he wasn’t simply offering platitudes.
He was redefining what “America” means entirely, listing countries throughout the Western Hemisphere while surrounded by flags representing nations from Canada to South America.
In a charged political climate where his performance was labeled “un-American” despite Puerto Ricans being U.S. citizens, Bad Bunny delivered a masterclass in cultural resistance through joy.
Reclaiming American Identity
Behind Bad Bunny during those final moments, a screen displayed a powerful message: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.” This referenced his 2026 Grammy Awards speech where he took home top honors and declared “ICE Out.”
President Donald Trump described the performance as “an affront to the Greatness of America,” exemplifying exactly the exclusionary rhetoric Bad Bunny was challenging.
The artist held a football reading “Together, we are America” while plena musicians—representatives of a Puerto Rican genre associated with community and protest—surrounded him. Flags from U.S. territories like the Virgin Islands and Bonaire waved alongside those of sovereign nations.
This is a really profound statement of Latino belonging in the United States and immigrant belonging in the United States. Bad Bunny is obviously very aware of the backlash against this halftime show.
Petra Rivera-Rideau, associate professor of American studies at Wellesley College and co-author of “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance,” explained the deeper significance.
A lot of that backlash has to do with this assumption that because it’s in Spanish, it’s somehow excluding people. And I think what we saw last night with Bad Bunny’s halftime show is that he was actually including people, inviting people into his world and at the same time, making a case that immigrants and Latinos are as much a fabric of the United States as anything else.
A Hemispheric Vision
Reanna Cruz, music critic and senior producer for Vox Media’s podcast Switched on Pop, identified Bad Bunny’s radical reframing of continental identity.
He is trying to reframe America as this continent-spanning container. The main takeaway I have from the performance is the highlight of community. If we have nothing else in times of hardship, we have community and we have joy, and a way to access that is to not shut out your fellow humans in whatever country it may be.
This concept isn’t entirely new in Latino music. Artists from Rubén Lárez to Los Tigres del Norte have created songs celebrating pan-American unity. What makes Bad Bunny’s statement remarkable is the platform—the Super Bowl stage, reaching over 100 million viewers.
Christopher Campo-Bowen, assistant professor of musicology at Virginia Tech, noted the dual message embedded in the performance.
He’s presenting a very capacious definition of what it is to be American. And within that, the idea of Puerto Rican sovereignty. He is presenting everything that he finds that makes Puerto Rico unique. And what makes Puerto Rico an autonomy culture and actor in the hemisphere—and presenting it all at once—and then also broadcasting this unifying message of ‘We are all Americans.’
Puerto Rico’s Complicated Citizenship
Puerto Ricans occupy a unique position as Americans. They’ve been U.S. citizens since 1917, regardless of birthplace. Yet those living on the island face significant limitations:
- No presidential voting rights
- No congressional representation
- Subject to military draft
- Limited federal benefits compared to mainland citizens
Rivera-Rideau highlighted how Bad Bunny addressed this colonial relationship through symbolism. He waved a Puerto Rican flag featuring a light blue triangle—the original flag color before U.S. takeover in 1898, when blue was changed to match American flag hues.
That light blue has become affiliated with Puerto Rican independence movements. Lady Gaga, who opened the show, wore a dress featuring this exact shade.
So, I think we saw him commenting on this colonial relationship at the same time that he’s insisting on full recognition in the United States as a Latino, as an American, in the continental sense. Both things are happening in that halftime show.
Music as Cultural Resistance
Puerto Rican music itself reflects this complex identity. Salsa exemplifies how colonialism paradoxically created unique cultural expressions.
Campo-Bowen explained that salsa emerged from Puerto Rican migration to New York in the late 1940s and early ’50s, following massive economic changes on the island. Puerto Ricans encountered other Latin Americans, and from that mixture, salsa was born.
It is based in the long history of colonialism and that carries those issues with it. But despite that, Puerto Rico has developed this unique culture with these unique musical signifiers which Bad Bunny is more than happy to draw on and celebrate.
Countering Conservative Narratives
Bad Bunny’s “God Bless America” directly challenged certain conservative definitions of American identity. Turning Point USA organized an alternative halftime performance headlined by Kid Rock, calling it the “all-American Halftime show.”
Vanessa Díaz, associate professor of Chicano and Latino studies at Loyola Marymount University and co-author of “P FKN R,” saw Bad Bunny’s response as transformative.
Bad Bunny turns this upside down and he says, ‘No, ‘God bless America’ and ‘America’ is all of these Latin American and Caribbean nations and the U.S. and Canada. We’re all a part of it.
The timing couldn’t be more significant. Trump’s immigration policies have vastly expanded deportation eligibility, routine hearings have become deportation traps, and detentions are prolonged while opposition grows.
Joy as Political Action
Díaz described the performance as “profoundly political,” not through anger but through celebration and unity.
It was about unity, but it was also about staking Latinos’ claim in this country. It was wildly imaginative and extremely educational. And yet we had fun and we danced and we cried. It was Bad Bunny at his best, being super specific about his homeland and its history and also welcoming people in to let themselves see themselves reflected in Puerto Rican culture and history.
Cruz emphasized how joy itself becomes resistance.
Joy is resistance and dancing is resistance. For people in the Latino community, the show is very clear in how political it is.
In a moment where Latino identity faces scrutiny and exclusion, Bad Bunny offered something radical: celebration without apology. He didn’t argue for acceptance—he demonstrated belonging as undeniable fact, inviting 100 million viewers to experience Puerto Rican culture not as foreign, but as fundamentally American in every sense of the word.