The NFL’s 2026 Super Bowl halftime performer was announced as Bad Bunny, a renowned Puerto Rican artist known for his singing and rapping. Although Bad Bunny is more than qualified, many conservative Americans are angry that a “non-American” is headlining the Super Bowl. Not only is this regressive, but Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican, which is an American territory, and even if he weren’t, non-American artists, such as U2 and Coldplay, have headlined in the past, which displays the hypocrisy of the outrage.
The primary issue isn’t that Bad Bunny “isn’t” American; it’s that his music isn’t in English.
Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a company started by conservative spokesperson Charlie Kirk, has announced that due to an artist who “doesn’t uphold American values,” they will stream a rival Super Bowl halftime show titled, “All-American,” is marketed as celebrating “faith, family, and freedom,” which is implying that christianity, which 40 percent of the country does not affiliate with, is all American. Furthermore, Bad Bunny himself is Catholic, a sect of Christianity, showing that this rival show is about more than uplifting Christian American voices.
TPUSA released a survey asking about the preferred genre of music for the performance. The options included “Pop, Hip-hop, Rock, and ‘anything in English.’” The option, “anything in English,” is clearly not a music genre, but a dig at Bad Bunny. It is directly tied to conservative Americans not being able to handle an artist whose music isn’t predominantly in English.
Puerto Rico is an American territory, and the majority of its population speaks Spanish. The idea that the English language is more American than Spanish, a language widely spoken in American territory, isn’t just false, it’s racist.
The US has always been a melting pot, and various cultures speaking different languages have been in the US since its colonization. The thought that the Spanish language isn’t American, or any language other than English isn’t American goes against the foundation of the country.
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira featured non-English songs in their Halftime show set in 2020, and Gloria Estefan headlined in 1992 and 1999, showing that for more than 20 years, we have had Latino representation in the Super Bowl. Bad Bunny doing a Spanish set is nothing new, but this outcry among conservatives is. Although this outcry is tied to racism, it’s also tied to Christian nationalism.
Bradley Onishi, a former Christian Nationalist from NPR, defines Christian nationalism as, “Not the idea that others can’t be here [it’s] that if you’re a Muslim or an atheist, that you have to leave.” He continues, “You’re saying that somehow this country is yours in a way that it is not for everyone else.”
Onishi then goes on by saying, “Barack Obama was, like, made in a lab to scare white Christian nationalists. So Barack Obama is president, and then we get Obergefell, and gay marriage is legalized.” He then states, “By the time Donald Trump arrives, this group of Christian nationalist voters…they’re in the mood for somebody who will act as the brutalizing barbarian needed to take the country back.”
Christian nationalism, fueled by white Americans’ fragility during the Obama presidency, has been growing since 2008. It has finally come to a head now that Trump is president and is promoting the values of Christianity and patriotism as being the same, causing the audience of Christian nationalists to have a voice. This has resulted in organizations such as TPUSA being founded to “bring America back,” which seems to really mean making America white and evangelized again.
Onishi states, “Trump is willing not only to espouse Christian nationalist ideas to champion Christian nationalist causes, but he’s willing to bring in Christian nationalists to his administration in ways that continue to convince this group of Americans that he is their man.”
Bringing in Christian nationalists to his administration means appointing them to the Supreme Court, which he’s already done, and instituting laws that uphold it, such as Texas’s law of posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
The controversy against Bad Bunny isn’t surprising; the disdain towards non-white Americans has been building since before 2016. The only difference is now the disdain is seen as not only acceptable, but necessary to your religion.
The problem with intertwining religion with patriotism is the terrifying power dynamics it creates. Nationalism brings nations together, and so does religion, so combining the two creates a hive mind of a nation.
America was founded on the ideal of “Liberty and justice for all,” but now it’s evolved into liberty and justice for those who have the same beliefs as me, which isn’t equality, it’s exclusion.