Bad Bunny clapped back at the backlash to his upcoming Super Bowl LX Halftime Show performance during an appearance on Saturday Night Live.
The ‘DTMF’ rapper, 31, wasted no time in addressing the controversy while hosting the season 51 premiere of the NBC sketch show on Saturday, October 4. (Doja Cat was the musical guest on the SNL season premiere.)
He joked that he was just hosting — rather than performing as musical guest too — because he was still “tired” from his 31-date No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico, over the summer.
“You may not know this but I’m doing the Super Bowl Halftime Show,” he announced to huge cheers from the Studio 8H audience. “I’m very happy and I think everyone is very happy about it! Even Fox News…”
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SNL then showed a montage of news coverage critical of his Super Bowl spot, though it was edited to say: “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician and he should be the next president.”
“Really, I’m very excited to be doing the Super Bowl and I know people all around the world who love my music are also happy,” he told viewers back in Studio 8H.
After briefly speaking in Spanish, Bad Bunny quipped: “If you didn’t understand now what I just said, you have four months to learn!”
The monologue featured a guest appearance from Jon Hamm, after Bad Bunny showed footage of the former Mad Men actor dancing during one of his residency concerts.
‘The National Football League announced on Sunday, September 28, that Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) would headline the Super Bowl LX Halftime Show in 2026, after he’d previously performed with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira at the event in 2020.
“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” Bad Bunny said in a statement. “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.”
The NFL faced a swift backlash from many conservative politicians and public figures for booking Bad Bunny because of his recent criticism of the Trump administration’s controversial immigration crackdown. Others objected because his music is primarily in the Spanish language.
Former professional race car driver Danica Patrick complained via X on Monday, September 29, that performing “no songs in English should not be allowed at one of America’s highest rated television events of the year,” before later calling for an alternate halftime show to be performed in English.
“I don’t have any problem with someone performing at halftime that is not from the United States, although Bad Bunny is technically a citizen because he was born in Puerto Rico,” Patrick, 43, said on the “War Room” podcast. “He wasn’t necessarily born in America. I don’t care where you’re actually born. What I care about is that I can sing along to the music. His music is almost nothing in English.”
She went on, “I don’t think it will be as much fun. I don’t think it will be as uniting. What I would hate to see is that it would divide us again, in yet another way.”
Former NFL star and “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast host Taylor Lewan also shared his opposition to Bad Bunny as the NFL’s pick during an appearance on Up & Adams on Tuesday, September 30 — and suggested another megastar should have gotten the Halftime Show job.
“It should have been Taylor Swift,” Lewan, 34, insisted. “She has been integrating in this world of football. She’s been meshing two completely different cultures into one another.”
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The controversy reached a fever pitch on Friday, October 3, when Homeland Security Secretary and former South Dakota governor Kristi Noem promised to send U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents to the Super Bowl.
“There will be ICE enforcement at the Super Bowl. There will be, because the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for keeping it safe, so I have the responsibility for making sure everybody who goes to the Super Bowl has the opportunity to enjoy it and to leave, and that’s what America is about,” Noem, 53, told right-wing podcast host Benny Johnson.
She then warned, “We’ll be all over that place … We’re going to enforce the law. So I think people should not be coming to the Super Bowl unless they’re law-abiding Americans who love this country.”
Super Bowl LX will air February 8, 2026, on NBC from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Saturday Night Live’s next new episode airs October 11 on NBC at 11:30p.m ET with host Amy Poehler and musical guest Role Model.
