Jay-Z is not buying into the backlash over Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show performance.
The music mogul, whose Roc Nation produces the halftime show, reacted to “people hating on” Bad Bunny while speaking to a TMZ videographer in New York City on Monday, October 27.
“They love him. Don’t let them fool you,” the rapper — real name Shawn Carter — said, coming to the Puerto Rican musician’s defense.
Bunny, 31, was announced as the headliner for 2026’s Super Bowl LX halftime show on September 28. However, the news was quickly followed by criticism from conservative politicians and public figures, including President Donald Trump.
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“I’ve never heard of him,” Trump said during an October 6 interview on Newsmax. “I don’t know who he is. I don’t know why they’re doing it. It’s, like, crazy.”
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” the president added.
Former professional race car driver Danica Patrick opposed Bunny — real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — headlining the show because he performs primarily in Spanish.
“Oh fun,” Patrick, 42, wrote in an X post on September 29. “No songs in English should not be allowed at one of America’s highest rated television events of the year … not just for sports.”
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“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,” she doubled down during an October 3 appearance on Steve Bannon’s “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.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, meanwhile, said U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents will be at the Super Bowl. (Bunny previously criticized ICE.)
“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 said in an October 3 interview with right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson.
She added, “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.”
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While Bunny’s selection prompted backlash from some, others, including Jennifer Lopez, praised the decision.
“He’s one of the top artists in the world right now, probably the top,” she said during an October 6 Today show appearance.
Screen and stage icon Rita Moreno also defended Bunny in an exclusive interview with Us Weekly en Español.
“Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl? Ay, I’m delirious!” the West Side Story star told Us at the 2025 Billboard Latin Music Awards on Thursday, October 23.
Reacting to critics who claim Bunny isn’t “American,” Moreno shot back, So what? I’m Puerto Rican, too. So what? What a nuisance!”
Super Bowl LX is set to take emanate from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on February 6, 2026, and will air on NBC.
