NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
The NFL remains committed to having Bad Bunny perform during the Super Bowl LX halftime show, commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday.
Goodell addressed the controversy surrounding the Grammy-winning Puerto Rican artist, some of which comes from the president Donald Trumpat the annual Fall League meeting Wednesday. This was the first time Goodell discussed the selection of Bad Bunny, although the backlash is nothing new for him.
“It’s carefully thought out,” Goodell said of the halftime show decision-making process. “I’m not sure we’ve ever picked an artist where we haven’t had some backlash or criticism. That’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people watching.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON Pakinomist
Latin music artist Bad Bunny said in a new interview that he doesn’t have US tour dates on his latest tour because he doesn’t want ICE raids at the events. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Bad Bunny, whose birth name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has come under fire from Trump and his supporters for his public comments about the president and his administration. The 31-year-old, who has won three Grammys, recently expressed fears about US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is why he decided to take up residence in his native Puerto Rico to avoid being stopped in the United States.
KRISTI NOEM SLAMS NFL ‘WEAK,’ PROMISES ICE WILL APPEAR AT SUPER BOWL AMID BAD BUNNY SCANDAL
He said earlier last month that he did not book any US dates on his tour because he feared his fans would be detained by ICE agents.
“But there was the question of f—ing ICE being outside [my concert]. And that’s something we talked about and were very concerned about,” he told iD.
Bad Bunny also recorded and posted video of what he described as local ICE raids to social media in Puerto Rico.
“Look, those mother—–s are in these cars, RAV-4s. They’re here in Pontezuela,” he said in Spanish, referring to ICE working on Avenida Pontezuela in Carolina, a city east of Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan.
“Sons of b—— instead of leaving the people alone and work there,” he added.
Bad Bunny attends the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5, 2025 in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Some NFL fans took issue not only with those comments, but with the fact that his hit songs were all sung in Spanish. But Goodell has no qualms about the show he expects from Bad Bunny.
“We’re confident it’s going to be a great show,” Goodell said. “He understands the platform he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a unifying moment.”
Despite Bad Bunny’s massive popularity across the globe, Trump told Newsmax that he had never heard of Bad Bunny before the Super Bowl announcement.
“I don’t know who he is,” Trump told the paper. “I don’t know why they do it. It’s crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to get entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
However, the decision makes sense to Goodell.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during a press conference at Caesars Superdome on Feb. 3, 2025 in New Orleans ahead of the Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
“He is one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world,” the commissioner said. “That’s what we’re trying to achieve. It’s an important scene for us. It’s an important element of the entertainment value.”
So Bad Bunny will be gearing up for his Super Bowl halftime show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on February 8, 2026.
