Bad Bunny fans troll Trump after Super Bowl 2026 headline announcement
He will take the covered halftime show slot next year.
Bad Bunny is set to headline the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show, and there has never been a more important time for the rapper to do so.
The 31-year-old rapper and singer-songwriter – who was born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio in Puerto Rico – confirmed the news in a statement in which he celebrated the huge achievement of landing the massive gig.
The show will take place during the Super Bowl LX game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on February 8, 2026.
He said: ‘What I’m feeling goes beyond myself. It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown… this is for my people, my culture, and our history.
‘Ve y dile a tu abuela, que seremos el HALFTIME SHOW DEL SUPER BOWL. (Go and tell grandma that we will be the HALFTIME SHOW of the Super Bowl).’
Rapper Jay Z – who serves as the NFL’s live music entertainment strategist – added in his own statement: ‘What Benito has done and continues to do for Puerto Rico is truly inspiring. We are honored to have him on the world’s biggest stage.’
The rapper will hit the stage in February for the massive show (Picture: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images for Vogue) He has been described as the world’s biggest Latin artist (Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)The news was announced during the game between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers on Sunday with a teaser video shared on social media, which shows Bad Bunny sitting on a goal post on a beach.
Why is Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl halftime show so important?Bad Bunny is widely considered the world’s biggest Latin artist, becoming the first non-English-speaking musician to be named Spotify’s most-streamed artist globally.
He has held this title for three consecutive years, and his Spanish-language music has also topped global charts.
His Super Bowl time comes at a time when racism, the far-right, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are never far from headlines.
In America, intensifying ICE raids targeting immigrants have sparked protests across the country.
ICE had been dubbed President Donald Trump’s personal rogue agency, with him stating during his campaign trail: ‘On day one, I will launch the largest deportation programme of criminals in the history of America.’
President Donald Trump coming back into office has seen ICE raids increase (Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) It has sparked widespread protests across the US (Picture: Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)According to the BBC, approximately 51,000 undocumented migrants were in ICE detention as of early June – the highest on record since September 2019.
Since Trump took office, he has directed the administration to target anyone in the country illegally, rather than prioritising undocumented immigrants who had committed serious crimes.
Some Democrats have called for the abolition of ICE due to its force under Trump’s presidency.
Bunny was born and raised in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, and moved to New York in 2023.
The rapper recently revealed he’d decided to leave the US off his upcoming tour over fears ICE agents would target his shows.
A post on X teased his Super Bowl announcement by stating: ‘I’ve been thinking about it these days, and after discussing it with my team, I think I’ll do just one date in the United States.’
Bad Bunny previously explained his decision not to tour the US, insisting none of his reasons for avoiding the States were ‘out of hate’, because he has always enjoyed ‘magnificent’ gigs in America.
Many have called for ICE to be abolished (Picture: Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images) Who is Bad Bunny?Bad Bunny rose to prominence in 2016 with the release of his single Soy Peor, which led to him landing a recording contract with Hear This Music.
He gained further traction when he released his top 10 single Mia featuring Drake, and also featured on Cardi B’s I Like It alongside Balvin.
He released his debut album, X 100pre, in 2018, which landed at number 10 on the US Billboard 200.
Bunny’s second studio album in 2020, YHLQMDLG, became the highest-charting all-Spanish album to appear on the Billboard 200, peaking at number two.
He smashed this record in the same year with his third solo album, El Último Tour Del Mundo, which was the first all-Spanish language album to top the Billboard 200.
Un Verano Sin Ti, his fourth studio album in 2022, was named the best-performing album of that year and spent 13 weeks at the top of the charts.
Across his career, he has won three Grammy Awards, eleven Latin Grammy Awards, eight Billboard Music Awards, and thirteen Lo Nuestro Awards.
Outside of music, he is a professional wrestler, having made WWE appearances, and has turned his attention to acting, having appeared in Bullet Train, Cassandro, Caught Stealing, and Happy Gilmore 2.
The rapper will not bring his upcoming tour to the US (Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella)When asked if he didn’t bring his tour to the US because of ‘concern about [the mass deportations of] Latinos in the United States’, he told i-D magazine: ‘Man, honestly, yes. There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the US, and none of them were out of hate – I’ve performed there many times.
‘All of [the shows] have been successful. All of them have been magnificent.
‘I’ve enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the US, but specifically, for a residency here in Puerto Rico, when we are an unincorporated territory of the US … People from the US could come here to see the show.
‘Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world.
‘But there was the issue of – like, if ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.’
Bad Bunny is due to begin his Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour in the Dominican Republic in November, before heading to Costa Rica and Mexico.
He has 57 shows planned, and they include stop-offs in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Spain, England, and Belgium, where he will complete the run of gigs on July 22, 2026.
What have fans said about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show?Bad Bunny fans have taken to trolling those outraged over his slot, while throwing support behind the artist over the historic show.
MAGA is now furious over Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl. Bunch of snowflakes!!! Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) September 29, 2025
BAD BUNNY IS THE SUPER BOWL HALFTIME PERFORMER OH MI GENTE LATINO WE WONNN aileen ❦ (@elordisdior) September 29, 2025
I hope Bad Bunny does the entire Super Bowl Half Time Show in Spanish. celia (@_celia_bedelia_) September 29, 2025
Bad Bunny is a great Super Bowl halftime show performer. Probably the biggest star in the world. Not my favorite personally but sure to piss off a lot of racist Americans.
— Roy Drones Jr (@chiweethedog) September 29, 2025‘At a time in our country where Trump has ICE putting so many innocent Latinos in concentration camps and ripping apart families…Having Bad Bunny someone who has opposed Trump openly doing the Super Bowl halftime show is such a powerful amazing statement,’ BellaLoveNote posted on X.
Ndelriego joked: ‘When Republicans find out that they can’t call ICE on Bad Bunny for the Super Bowl halftime show because he’s Puerto Rican.’
TrevorAlley2 shared an image of several white people wearing sunglasses, penning a mocking message about the Super Bowl show: ‘“This Super Bowl half time show sucks! Can’t do one song in English! Why doesn’t he do a song in English?! What even is a Bad Bunny?! This isn’t what I voted for!”’
Anapau_villa argued: ‘I don’t think it’s hypocritical that Bad Bunny does the Super Bowl show for several reasons: the average audience that goes to that event IS NOT Latino and therefore they are not in danger from ICE raids, it’s a very powerful message that a Latino artist is at the biggest event in the USA, and it’s highly likely that he will use it as a form of protest against the immigrant hunt led by the government – like Kendrick did on behalf of the black community against racism.’
Charlotte Clymer added: ‘Based on both merit and marketing, Bad Bunny is an obvious choice to headline the Super Bowl. He’s one of the biggest artists in the world. But he’s also a notable LGBTQ ally, particularly on trans rights. He’s been consistently critical of Trump. He’s an avatar of Latin excellence in a moment when the U.S. government is violently hostile toward Latin people.
‘Based on all this, the NFL selecting him to headline the Super Bowl is pretty damn surprising and may indicate no small measure of intended protest by those involved in the process.’
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