The Puerto Rican star’s upcoming performance will go ahead despite right-wing outrage.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league will not pull Bad Bunny’s upcoming halftime show, the AP reports, as the NFL’s selection of the Puerto Rican singer continues to attract intense criticism from conservatives across the United States.
“It’s carefully thought through,” Goodell said of the show on Wednesday (October 22). “I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching.
“We’re confident it’s going to be a great show,” Goodell continued. “[Bad Bunny] understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.”
The appearance of a Spanish-speaking pop star on the biggest stage of “America’s Pastime” has sent some right-wing figures into a tizzy. President Donald Trump called it “absolutely ridiculous” in a NewsMax interview while Turning Point USA, the conservative advocacy group founded by Charlie Kirk, is attempting to program a competing event called the “All-American Halftime Show.”
Some of that consternation no doubt stems from Bad Bunny’s opposition to Trump’s policies. He has spoken out in protest of draconian raids spearheaded by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and declined to include the United States in his world tour out of fear his fans could be swept up in the ongoing mass deportations.