Bad Bunny’s halftime show at Super Bowl LX drew mixed reactions. For some, it was a Hispanic or Latin American triumph with nothing objectionable, while for others, it was a spectacle with obscene lyrics and dances that did not represent the best of Latin America.
In an interview with EWTN News, Father Mario Arroyo, who holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, observed that the event was the setting for a “political message” in which Bad Bunny asserted “that the United States is a multicultural nation” with some 70 million Latinos.
According to various sources, the Puerto Rican artist chose his stage name based on a photo of himself when he was a boy in a bunny outfit with an angry look on his face.
“That is also a political message that confronts the political agenda of current President Donald Trump,” Father Arroyo added.
The priest considered the show an expression of “the Latino community in the United States that has felt harassed by the measures taken by the U.S. administration,” sparking protests against violent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In separate incidents last month, ICE agents killed two people in Minneapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. ICE raids led to the arrest of some 400,000 people in 2025, of whom less than 14% had violent criminal records, according to CBS News.
When Bad Bunny received the Grammy Award for Best Urban Music Album on Feb. 2 for “Debí tirar más fotos” (“I should have taken more photos”), he began his acceptance speech by saying “ICE out.”
It’s not Latin America’s ‘best act’
After clarifying that he is not a fan of Bad Bunny or reggaeton, because it is “a style of music that sexualizes women a lot” and degrades “human behavior,” Father Arroyo lamented that the artist’s show was not Latin America’s “best act” but rather a “vulgar spectacle wIth nothing uplifting about it.”
The priest noted that “there is a moral principle that says the end does not justify the means; it’s a basic principle,” even though Bad Bunny’s intention was “to send a positive message,” highlighting various images of Puerto Rico and Latin America.
Super Bowl LX, in which the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday, Feb. 8, was the second most-watched in history, surpassed only by the 2025 game, according to data by the Nielsen audience ratings company.
As for the halftime show, according to Nielsen, the average viewership was 128.2 million, more than seven million fewer than last year’s Kendrick Lamar show, which averaged 133.5 million viewers.
In addition to Bad Bunny, the show featured Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, along with other celebrities who appeared during the performance, such as actors Jessica Alba and Pedro Pascal, and singer Karol G.
“I think the goal of the NFL is more economic than political: to broaden the spectrum of people who enjoy and are interested in American football,” Arroyo told EWTN News.
President of the Puerto Rican Bishops’ Conference weighs in
Bishop Eusebio Ramos of Caguas, president of the Puerto Rican Bishops’ Conference, also spoke out about the show.
“Certainly, one can have something to say about the musical genre, and I clearly state that I am not expressing my support for it but hearing the voice of a young man who prioritizes a language of love fills us with joy,” Bishop Ramos told the Italian news agency SIR.
“There is no doubt that the words of Benito, of this singer, have touched hearts, have reminded us of Christian values, such as fraternity and the primacy of love,” the prelate added, referring to Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.
Bishop Ramos said that “it gives us hope to hear the message of someone who, at this moment when the world order has broken down in so many ways, calls for tearing down walls, challenging the collective conscience.”
After commenting that Bad Bunny “has his own political vision,” the Puerto Rican bishop emphasized that “he is undoubtedly a voice that reminds us of the value of the dignity of every human being, who must be respected. The current wave of deportations, on the contrary, disregards that dignity.”
Regarding the political situation of Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States whose people are American citizens but lack voting representation in the U.S. government, the bishop commented that “for 125 years we have suffered, in practice, colonialism. The United States is the superior interlocutor; we, the Puerto Ricans, are at an inferior level. An unjust relationship, tainted by sin. But Puerto Rico has survived, has kept its identity and culture alive.”
Regarding President Donald Trump’s critical reaction to Bad Bunny’s performance, the bishop said: ”I wasn’t surprised; it’s his style.” The U.S. president called the halftime show ”absolutely terrible, one of the worst ever!” and also said on Truth Social that ”nobody understands a word this guy is saying and the dancing is disgusting.”
‘Not all success has value,’ Puerto Rican senator says
Puerto Rican independent and pro-life senator Joanne Rodríguez-Veve, a mother of two, also commented on her compatriot’s performance.
“I believe Bad Bunny is not a musical phenomenon but a political phenomenon within the culture,” she told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. “His message, with its clear woke undertones, made him an icon of the cultural left,” she added.
After commenting that “there is no doubt that Bad Bunny is not alone” and that there are many economic interests surrounding him, Rodríguez said that, “ironically, Bad Bunny, the favorite son of capitalism — an economic platform without which he would not have achieved his much-venerated personal success — is the new idol of the political left. It turns out that, when it suits them, capitalist success is good.”
After acknowledging that “Bad Bunny’s achievements are undeniable,” such as his Grammy Awards and his Super Bowl halftime performance, the senator clarified that “we would fall short in our capacity for reflection if the value of something or someone were measured solely by success. Success in saying what? Success in promoting what? Success in exhibiting what? No, not all success has value. That’s the point.”
“As a Puerto Rican woman, I do not feel represented by anyone who objectifies women and portrays us to the world as animals at a bacchanal,” the senator emphasized.
“He can wave the single-starred [Puerto Rican] flag” and “sing about what happened to Hawaii in Hawaii (loss of native cultural identity and heritage), and it won’t be enough. Because,” she pointed out, “Puerto Rican identity is simplicity and bravery, but it is also the elegance of the jíbaro [traditional peasant], the mother who gives birth to the homeland, the hardworking family, the children who await the Three Kings, and knees bent before God,” she maintained.
Junk food isn’t the best for the soul
Father Arroyo also drew attention to the stark contrast between Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance and the recent opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, where Andrea Bocelli and Laura Pausini sang: “It was a show of great human and cultural quality … and of course, an artistic level infinitely superior to Bad Bunny’s music, which, in my opinion, is garbage.”
“That Olympics show was watched by only 21 million people. That is to say, more than six times as many people watched the Super Bowl,” he lamented, adding that it seems people prefer to feed their soul with “junk food.”
The priest encouraged teaching children “to be discerning” about what they see and to “critically evaluate what they are communicating to us and try to understand what they want communicated and what the underlying intentions are.”
