The most viewed halftime performance in history, and what America has to say.
The Superbowl halftime show performed by Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny was extremely controversial across social media in America. This halftime show is widely reported as the most watched halftime show in history with roughly 135.4 million viewers. While some people thought this was a well thought out, inclusive performance, other people thought of it as disgraceful from political views.
The Super Bowl halftime show was based in a Puerto Rican village and also a New York-style street bodega. The show featured Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin with other guests in the performance such as Cardi B, Karol G, Pedro Pascal, Jessica Alba, Young Miko, and Alix Earle. There was also a real wedding ceremony taking place during the show. His show included actual people dressed as clumps of grass and climbed a faux utility pole dancing. He played, “Tití Me Preguntó,” “Safaera,” “Monaco,” and “Nueva Yol” to the audience.
Bad Bunny was one of the only Superbowl halftime show performers to perform completely in Spanish, bringing attention to the non-English speakers in America for an all inclusive performance. He used choreography and told a story of what it’s like to be an American Patriot showing his story. There was a little boy resembling a younger Bad Bunny who he gave a grammy showing how far he has come. The message of the performance was to show immigrants that they are welcome to the U.S. and included Spanish speaking countries showing that nobody is an “illegal alien” in the U.S. He used cultural recognition to the Spanish families saying they are all welcome here and related the performance to his own life to express pride in who he is and to children around the world not to be ashamed or hide their culture. At the end of the show, he held up and spiked a football reading “Together we are America” unifying the people no matter where they come from.
The millions of people watching had many different opinions about the show. Many people were disappointed about the language barrier and were frustrated because they couldn’t understand what he was saying. Other people enjoyed the message saying that they didn’t need to understand what he was saying to understand what he meant. People loved the show because it included diversity throughout fans and made everyone feel included whether they were from America or not, and he used cultural relativity to bring fans together and relate their childhoods. Some people liked the performance, but were not satisfied with the song choices and were expecting different styles for this huge, country wide event. Other people thought that the show was not appropriate for children and wasn’t “family friendly” and some just didn’t appreciate it because of their political views and opinions on ICE. In fact, president Donald Trump harshly criticized the show on social media saying it was “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” and talked down upon the Spanish speaking. He claimed that this “show” is just a “slap in the face to our Country” and didn’t reflect on traditional American values.
Bad Bunny’s Superbowl halftime show may have been the most controversial show, but it was also the most watched of all time. Whether people like it based on his cultural diversity, language, and representation of Spanish speakers, or if they dislike it for political views or because they thought it wasn’t “American” enough, it had a good message no matter what. Bad Bunny used heavy inclusion to all communities and left a big dent in America’s society with an attempt to bring people together no matter where they’re from. He wants people to see that they belong together and “Together we are America.”