The singer will take the stage at the half-time show in the NFL finals. Trump will not participate in a sign of open hostility with the American football league. Turning Point USA will organize an alternative show called “The All-American Halftime Show” which will be broadcast simultaneously with the official show
The simplicity of the acceptance speech for the best album of the year delivered by Bad Bunny at the Grammys, he impressed the Americans: “I thank God. But first I say: away with Ice. We are not animals.” Few concepts, but clear. Now comes the Super Bowlthe most important sporting and television event of the year overseas. AND In the highly anticipated half-time show, who will take to the stage on Sunday? Bad BunnyObviously.
His choice triggered a visceral reaction within the Maga movement, which sees in the Puerto Rican singer the symbol of what it fights, starting with multiculturalism woke and the erosion of Anglophone identity, not to mention her gender-fluid fashion choices. Donald Trump, as a sign of open hostility, will not participate in the event and says of Bunny: “Never heard of him. I don’t know who he is”calling the NFL league’s choice “absolutely ridiculous.” But the fracture between the NFL (in the past holder of positions that were anything but progressive) and the Maga universe pits an organization that thinks for global markets, according to choices of absolute pragmatism, against a movement that attempts to build a parallel cultural infrastructure. For the league, the choice of Bad Bunny is not a political act, but a decision based on the artist’s 70 billion streamswhich guarantee unprecedented penetration into the Latin American market and Generation Z. Roger Goodell, number one of the NFL, reiterated that the Super Bowl is “a stage for everyone”, a statement which tends to protect advertisers first and foremost, the main one of which, Apple Music, has ignored the controversy so far. Meanwhile, to avoid diplomatic incidents, the league has intensified coordination with Roc Nation (Jay-Z’s company that manages the show), working on a choreography that celebrates Californian Hispanic culture (the Superbowl is held in Santa Clara), anchoring the representation to local tradition and weakening the accusation of “cultural invasion”.
Too little to satisfy the Trumpian camp which in fact entrusted Turning Point USA, the conservative pole founded by Charlie Kirk and now led by his widow Erika, with the creation of an alternative show called “The All-American Halftime Show”, which will be broadcast at the same time as the official show, with the aim of celebrating the values of “faith, family and freedom”. The show will favor genres such as country, classic rock and Christian music but, despite the media emphasis, it has so far struggled to formalize a program of notable participations, also following some excellent refusals, such as those of Nicki Minaj, a Maga sympathizer, and that of Kid Rock, an old favorite of the supremacists, who made it known that he sees the challenge as a duel between “David and Goliath”. It is yet to be seen, therefore, whether this attempt at counter-narrative will be able to make a dent in the record numbers expected for the Santa Clara performance or whether it will remain a symbolic protest confined to social media, despite being able to count on funding from the ecosystem of companies that cater to right-wing consumers, including PublicSquare, an anti-woke e-commerce platform, Patriot Mobile, a Christian-conservative telephone operator, and Black Rifle Coffee, regulars at patriotic events. The main problem for Turning Point USA remains distribution: without an agreement with the big broadcasters, the alternative show will be forced to broadcast on platforms like X, limiting access to the general public.
What is certain is that even the Super Bowl, intended as the last unifying rite of America, a moment in which the entire nation watches the same images, now ends up in the attic. Meanwhile, Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, warns that ICE agents will be everywhere during the event. Bad Bunny throws down the gauntlet and promises a set entirely in Spanish. And a comedian puts a joke into circulation: “We will see Vanilla Ice resurrected with that one hit of his: ‘Ice, Ice, Baby’”.
