Bad Bunny had family on his mind when he took the field for the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show.
The rapper, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, wore a cream-colored custom jersey for his performance, with “Ocasio” on the back and No. 64.
“Bad Bunny paid homage to his uncle who played football by wearing his #64,” NFL Vice President of Communications Brian McCarthy wrote via X.
Bad Bunny, 31, also held onto an old football with the words “Together we are American” written on it. As McCarthy explained, that was also intentional.
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“And thanks to his desire to use an old NFL ball that had white stripes, I learned from @ProFootballHOF that when the white ball was banned in ‘56, a ball w/ stripes was used for night games until ‘76,” he wrote.
The six-time Grammy Award winner used his performance to pay tribute to his Puerto Rican roots, beginning his show in a sugarcane field set. As it progressed, he transitioned to a front porch, where he was supported by a host of celebrity cameos, including Pedro Pascal, Cardi B and Alix Earle.
In addition, Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin gave special performances.
As Bad Bunny concluded his set, the words “The only thing more powerful than hate is love” appeared on the stadium scoreboard, a nod to his acceptance speech at the 2026 Grammy Awards earlier this month.
Bad Bunny first announced he would be the Super Bowl halftime headliner in September 2025.
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“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” he said in a statement at the time. “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 announcement came with some controversy as conservative politicians and pundits decried his lyrics, which are primarily in Spanish, and previous criticism of President Donald Trump’s policies. He addressed the backlash while hosting Saturday Night Live in October 2025.
“You may not know this, but I’m doing the Super Bowl halftime show,” he said during his monologue. “I’m very happy and I think everyone is very happy about it! Even Fox News.”
He continued, “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.”
Bad Bunny then poked fun at his critics, speaking briefly in Spanish before switching back to English and saying, “If you didn’t understand now what I just said, you have four months to learn.”
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NFL commissioner Roger Goodell downplayed the backlash later that month, reminding reporters that Bad Bunny is one of the “most popular entertainers in the world.”
“I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback and criticism,” he added. “It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching.”
After his halftime performance, Bad Bunny and Goodell shared a long hug in the hallway underneath Levi’s Stadium.
