Image courtesy of Billboard
Written by: Frederick Perry
Bad Bunny is a music artist from Bayamon, Puerto Rico, who broke out as an artist in the late 2010s. Back in September of 2025, he was announced as the headliner of the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show. For many viewers, the artist who headlines the halftime show of America’s sport is just as big as the game itself. With that being said, some people had a lot of issues with Bad Bunny being chosen to perform on one of the biggest stages; maybe it was because he wasn’t born in America, or even possibly because he isn’t from the state where the Super Bowl is taking place, California.
With the current state of our country, however, a big reason people have problems with it is because of President Trump, who recently declared that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, will be present at the event. Many believe that this decision was made because Bad Bunny’s target audience is mostly Hispanic, with expectations that they will be in the audience during viewing.
The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events of the year, and one that everyone looks forward to, whether it be players, football fans, sports betters, and so on. But the last thing people want to worry about is ICE using this as an opportunity to harass people. More recently, we’ve witnessed how far ICE will go, and people are worried their extreme force will ruin a memorable event for many.
It can be argued that Bad Bunny isn’t the issue, but instead Trump’s decision to bring ICE into an event where the performer is famous among the Latin American group. Many have mentioned the hypocrisy if there were another artist headlining, and how ICE wouldn’t be present.
Image courtesy of PBS
Bad Bunny isn’t a bad artist, nor is he a bad person, as he is actually a big advocate against the current state of our country. However, I believe that this, on top of him being Latin-American, has put a target on his back to those who are content with what’s happening in the U.S. I feel that if he were asked to perform during a time when Trump wasn’t in office, this wouldn’t be a problem at all.
To put it simply, the frustrations of viewers and attendees of the game surrounding Bad Bunny’s halftime performance could very well be because of Donald Trump and his decisions. Before the changes he has made as President, no one was talking about ICE. Why? Because they did not have as much power as they do now. Many will argue that ICE is “just doing their job,” but is arresting children really a part of their job?
Is taking the lives of innocent individuals a job they’re asked to do?
Should they have the power to even perform these actions?
There are a lot of factors to this controversy that people don’t fully understand.
We will not tell you who to blame. What we will tell you is, do not blame Bad Bunny.
