NFL thumbs nose at Trump facing MAGA backlash over Super Bowl halftime performer
President Donald Trump and his supporters are furious at the National Football League over the selection of Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican rap star who has criticized the administration, to perform at the upcoming halftime show. But the NFL is making clear that its decision won't be renegotiated.
According to ESPN, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell "addressed the Bad Bunny controversy at his news conference following the NFL's fall meeting. It is the first time he has commented on the move announced in late September that garnered worldwide attention, including an increase in streams of Bad Bunny's music, along with backlash."
"It's carefully thought through," Goodell told the conference. "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." He added of Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, "He's one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world. That's what we try to achieve. It's an important stage for us. It's an important element to the entertainment value."
Trump himself recently jumped into the controversy, telling the right-wing Newsmax network during an interview, "I don't know who he is. I don't know why they're doing it. It's, like, crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it's absolutely ridiculous."
In addition to the criticism of Trump, MAGA supporters are enraged that Bad Bunny is expected to perform the halftime show in Spanish. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) proclaimed the performer's work is "demonic" and asserted it's further proof English must be made the official language of the United States.
Meanwhile, Turning Point USA, an infamous far-right youth activist group that is still reeling from the murder of founder Charlie Kirk during a political event in September, has announced plans to put on its own "alternative" halftime show packed with performers they deem patriotic and pro-American.