There Is Nothing More American than Bad Bunny

According to a 2019 survey, approximately 42 million Americans speak Spanish — these are either citizens or legal residents of this country. Bad Bunny is also American (he was born in Puerto Rico). Bad Bunny has been critical of U.S. institutions and policies, and there is almost nothing more American than voicing dissent about the powerful. This guy is America — just maybe not the America that the right chooses to acknowledge.

Bad Bunny will be performing at the Super Bowl Halftime show because the NFL is interested in expanding its fanbase, not just in America but internationally. Even the NFL understands that one day, the guy in power won’t be in power any longer. The decision, however, has sparked a huge backlash from the right because they think that anyone not from suburban Detroit pretending to be poor white trash from the South is “woke.” They think he’s un-American because he doesn’t fit the traditional American identity.

There is nothing more American than Bad Bunny: a citizen who embraces his culture without apology, who blends traditions to create something new, who challenges authority, and who represents millions of voices that have always been part of this country, even when the dominant narrative tries to pretend otherwise. That is the same kind of rebelliousness the right embraced under the previous administration.

And now, as Mike mentioned last night, the right is trying to cancel Bad Bunny because he doesn’t fit their definition of an American.

MAGA has called for ICE to be at the Super Bowl, and Corey Lewandowski and Kristi Noem have obliged by saying that they will be on hand to deport anyone they find in attendance who is not American.

“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else,” Lewandowski said on a podcast yesterday. “We will find you. We will apprehend you. We will put you in a detention facility, and we will deport you. So know that that is a very real situation under this administration, which is completely contrary to how it used to be.”

Ummm, who does Lewandowski think attends the Super Bowl? Because typically, it’s people who can afford to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for a Super Bowl ticket. Millionaires and billionaires. Who is ICE gonna harass? Ben Affleck and Jerry Jones?

The absurdity of the threat only underscores how hollow the outrage is. Bad Bunny is an American. His fans are overwhelmingly American. Spanish is as American as apple pie. And the fact that the right is clutching their pearls over a Puerto Rican superstar singing in Spanish at the most American event of the year tells you everything you need to know: it’s not about patriotism, it’s about power — and who gets to define what “American” looks like. Bad Bunny isn’t just American; he’s the American future. The NFL knows it. Maybe the right should get on board with what America actually looks like, instead of what their podcasts think it should look like. If there’s anyone un-American here, it’s them.

For good measure: Bad Bunny will also be hosting the season premiere of another American institution this weekend: Saturday Night Live.