To say Bad Bunny鈥檚 Super Bowl halftime performance was joyful is an understatement 鈥� on stage, after all.
The music was lively and upbeat.
It was also political. Though, not quite as political .
Benito Antonio Mart铆nez Ocasio, who performs as Bad Bunny, criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week during an acceptance speech .
鈥淏efore I say thanks to God, I鈥檓 gonna say: ICE out. We鈥檙e not savage, we鈥檙e not animals, we鈥檙e not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans,鈥� .
But a different portion of his Grammy鈥檚 speech lit up an LED screen inside Levi鈥檚 Stadium: 鈥淭he only thing more powerful than hate is love.鈥�
Some of the messages were subtle, like Ocasio鈥檚 decision to highlight the ordinary people who contribute to Puerto Rican society and culture: a nail technician, street food vendors and elderly men enjoying a game of dominoes.
Other messages were more overt, like the inclusion of 鈥淟o Que Le Pas贸 a Hawaii,鈥� (鈥淲hat Happened to Hawaii鈥�) and 鈥淓l Apag贸n鈥� (鈥淭he Blackout鈥�) in the set list. The songs touch on issues like colonialism, power outages and .
The decision to select Bad Bunny, who performs almost exclusively in Spanish, as the halftime entertainment was criticized by some on the right.
Turning Point USA, the conservative organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk, scheduled its own 鈥淎ll-American Halftime Show鈥� headlined by Kid Rock as counterprogramming.
It was broadcast on TBN and garnered around 6 million views on Youtube, from The New York Times.
The official viewership from the NFL鈥檚 halftime show hasn鈥檛 been released yet, but that it鈥檚 likely to exceed 125 million.
President Trump is likely one of those viewers. He took to Truth Social to criticize Bad Bunny鈥檚 performance.
鈥淭he Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn鈥檛 represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence,鈥� in part.
Ocasio鈥檚 music is part of an increasingly diverse pool of protest music that defies genres.
North Texas artists are adding their voices to that cannon. 四虎影院 will have a story about their protest tunes soon.
Got a tip? Email Marcheta Fornoff at mfornoff@kera.org.
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