(The Lion) — A Puerto Rican artist who refused to perform in the U.S. to protest President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids has been named the Super Bowl halftime performer, whipping up a tsunami of condemnation for his crossdressing and use of demonic themes.
The NFL on Sunday announced Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, a.k.a. Bad Bunny, as the Super Bowl LX performer at the next Super Bowl, to be played Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Ocasio’s selection was made in conjunction with Apple Music and Roc Nation, the company hip-hop mogul Jay-Z founded that has been in charge of picking the halftime show’s entertainment since 2019.
The NFL’s agreement with Roc Nation was extended last fall, around the time longtime Jay-Z friend Sean “Diddy” Combs was charged with sex trafficking and racketeering. He and Jay-Z, whose name is Shawn Carter, also were sued over an alleged rape of a 13-year-old.
Combs was convicted of lesser charges in July and is to be sentenced Friday. Prosecutors are seeking over 11 years in prison. Meanwhile, the lawsuit against him and Jay-Z was dismissed “with prejudice” in February, meaning it cannot be refiled. Jay-Z has since filed a defamation case against the accuser and her attorneys.
“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” Ocasio said in a release from the NFL. “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.”
He then added in Spanish, “Ve y dile a tu abuela, que seremos el HALFTIME SHOW DEL SUPER BOWL,” which translates to “go and tell your grandmother that we will be the Super Bowl halftime show.”
The league tried to call it “an iconic cultural moment,” citing his “dynamic performance, creative vision, and deep connection with fans,” but the backlash was swift and savage.
League Commissioner “Roger Goodell and the @NFL just decided to make the Super Bowl political by picking Bad Bunny as the 2026 Super Bowl music act,” posted Robby Starbuck on X. “The guy literally says he isn’t touring the US because of Trump’s ICE raids and just released a video mocking President Trump.
“Also, most of his songs aren’t even in English. This is not a pick designed to unite football fans or let people just enjoy the show. It was a pick designed to divide fans and no doubt Bad Bunny will find some way to push a woke message.”
Starbuck, who is Cuban American, cited a post from Ocasio that rips “gringos” for being “pissed about how Latino the halftime show was.”
“As a Latino myself, when he says gringo like this, it’s absolutely racist. Why is the NFL inviting someone who seemingly hates White people to play the Super Bowl? This is in addition to his anti-Trump and anti-ICE comments. Ask the NFL why they’re putting a bigot like this on stage!” Starbuck posted, adding email addresses and phone numbers for NFL and Roc Nation officials.
The Lion reached out for comment to Roc Nation and the Kansas City Chiefs’ organization, the latter of which is owned by devout Christians.
Talk show host Benny Johnson quoted Ocasio’s reasoning for canceling his U.S. tour: “F***ing ICE could be outside my concert. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
“The NFL is self-destructing year after year,” Johnson concluded.
Besides the political and cultural issues, others objected to Ocasio for using demonic imagery in his songs and shows.
Multiple people have posted online they’ve felt a strong demonic presence during his shows, especially during Baticano, a combination of the Spanish word for Vatican with Bati, a nickname for the singer. The performance, posted online, includes dancers wearing skull masks gyrating provocatively on the singer amidst a dark red background.
In one clip, there is fire rising up from the stage and the dancers appear to drag Ocasio through the stage floor, as if he’s being pulled into hell.
Some are calling on opponents of it all to raise hell themselves.
“This is who the NFL is having do the Super Bowl halftime show. A cross dressing, ‘sexually fluid,’ depraved Puerto Rican rapper that doesn’t have a single song on English,” posted The Blaze contributor T.J. Moe, who played football for the University of Missouri before a short stint in the NFL. “The NFL hates your values. It hates Christianity. It’s part of the leftist death cult. We need to raise hell until they reverse course.”
“Hundreds of fans have come out and said this,” a commentator posted, quoting one who said it “looks evil” and is “definitely giving satanic ritual vibes.”
Ocasio is nonetheless tremendously popular, with a record 600 million video views on YouTube, but his outlandish behavior, which includes cross-dressing, has people objecting to the choice.
Some allege the artist was deliberately picked to extinguish the religious revival following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which has prompted thousands to return to church and inquire about the Christian faith.
“Bad Bunny is a demonic Marxist who [has] been granted the largest stage with the greatest audience in the middle of a Christian revival,” wrote The Redheaded Libertarian. “This is by design. We are in a spiritual war and once you see it you can’t unsee it.”
“It’s about recruiting people away from the light and into the darkness at a consequential time,” she said in another post. “Keep [your] children away from it.”
One respondent to a Starbuck post had another idea:
“Robby, let’s get @TPUSA to have an alternative stream where they have the same musicians at Charlie Kirk’s memorial and celebrate Jesus and America? Let’s turn the channel at half time,” writes Oklahoma Gamgee.
The Super Bowl is the most-watched television event in the U.S., and is also seen worldwide. Last year’s halftime show, which featured rapper Kendrick Lamar, was the most-watched halftime performance in history, slightly exceeding Michael Jackson in 1993, reaching an estimated 133.5 million viewers.
