Bad Bunny shared a subtle message with the US written on a football during his Super Bowl halftime show.
The Super Bowl LX halftime performance on February 8, 2026, made history as the first predominantly Spanish-language show in the event’s six-decade run.
The Puerto Rican superstar, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, delivered a 14-minute spectacular that celebrated Latin heritage, featured A-list guest appearances, and sparked intense debate across the political spectrum.
But amid the elaborate staging, cultural references, and political flashpoints, the Grammy-winning artist saved his most powerful message for a simple prop: a football emblazoned with three carefully chosen words.
A performance that divided America
The buildup to Bad Bunny’s halftime appearance was fraught with controversy. Since the NFL announced him as the headliner in September 2025, the decision became a political lightning rod.
President Donald Trump called it ‘a terrible choice,’ while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem declared that ICE would ‘be all over’ the game.
Conservative media figures dismissed Bad Bunny as ‘not an American artist,’ conveniently ignoring that Puerto Rico is a US territory and its residents are American citizens.
Just a week before the Super Bowl, Bad Bunny accepted three Grammy Awards, including the prestigious Album of the Year. During his first acceptance speech, he made a pointed statement: “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say: ICE Out. We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.”
This declaration set the stage for what many expected would be an overtly political halftime show. Instead, Bad Bunny chose a different approach, one that emphasized unity, cultural pride, and love over explicit confrontation.
A love letter to Latin America
The performance itself was a kaleidoscopic journey through Latin culture. Bad Bunny opened in a sugar cane field, a direct homage to Puerto Rico’s agricultural history and the legacy of labor that built the Caribbean, the New York Times reports.
He performed hits like ‘Tití Me Preguntó,’ ‘MONACO,’ and ‘BAILE INOLVIDABLE’ while the stage transformed from rural landscapes to urban scenes complete with a bodega, a nail salon, and a neighborhood bar.
The set featured ‘La Casita,’ a replica of the colorful traditional Puerto Rican homes that Bad Bunny had used during his recent residency in San Juan.
Celebrity cameos included Pedro Pascal, Jessica Alba, Cardi B, and Karol G, all visible in brief appearances that underscored the pan-Latino nature of the celebration.
Lady Gaga emerged to perform a salsa-flavored version of ‘Die With a Smile,’ her collaboration with Bruno Mars, during what appeared to be a wedding scene.
Ricky Martin, who arguably pioneered the modern Latin pop crossover that paved the way for Bad Bunny, performed ‘Lo Que le Pasó a Hawaii,’ a song that addresses concerns about Puerto Rico’s cultural identity being overwhelmed by outside forces.
Throughout the performance, Bad Bunny wove in subtle political commentary. During ‘El Apagón’ (The Blackout), he climbed electrical poles, a reference to Puerto Rico’s chronic power failures that have plagued the island since Hurricane Maria in 2017.
At one point, he handed what appeared to be a replica Grammy to a young Latino boy, telling him in Spanish to ‘always believe in yourself.’
The message of unity
As the performance built toward its finale, Bad Bunny made one of only two statements in English during the entire show: “God bless America.”
But he immediately expanded on that phrase, listing countries across North, South, and Latin America in Spanish, Chile, Argentina, and others, before switching to English to name the United States and Canada. He closed by declaring in both Spanish and English: “And my motherland, Puerto Rico.”
Behind him, a massive screen displayed another English message: “THE ONLY THING MORE POWERFUL THAN HATE IS LOVE.”
Then came the parade of flags, performers rushed onto the field carrying banners representing every nation in the Americas, a visual representation of hemispheric unity that challenged narrow definitions of American identity.
The football’s hidden message
And finally, Bad Bunny held up the football. In clear view of the cameras and the 100-million-plus viewers watching worldwide, the ball bore a simple inscription in English, MailOnline reports.
With those four words, Bad Bunny delivered his most direct message to a divided nation.
He spiked the football in triumph before walking off to his closing song, ‘DtMF’ an emotional track about holding onto a past that’s slipping away.
The football message encapsulated the entire performance’s thesis: that America is not a monolith, that the Americas extend beyond US borders, and that unity, not division, should define the American experience.
President Trump predictably denounced the show as ‘absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!’ and complained that ‘nobody understands a word this guy is saying.’
But for millions of Latino viewers and allies, Bad Bunny’s message came through loud and clear, both in Spanish and in the three words printed on that football: “Together, We Are America.”
