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Former New York Giants star Tiki Barber said he hoped Super Bowl LX would be free of controversy amid criticism of Bad Bunny’s anti-ICE remarks prior to his hiatus from the show.
Bad Bunny’s selection as a Super Bowl halftime performer sparked backlash among some NFL fans last year, and consternation grew after his remarks at the Grammy Awards over the weekend.
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New York Giants running back (21) Tiki Barber runs past Washington Redskins cornerback (25) Kenny Wright on his way to the end zone at FedEx Field on December 30, 2006. (Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports)
But as the days draw closer to the game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, Barber suggested to The Associated Press that he hopes the game is the escape it’s intended to be.
“The Super Bowl is supposed to be an escape, right? We have to go there to not have to talk about the serious things in this country,” he told the paper. “I hope it doesn’t decentralize, because if it does, I think we’re really losing touch with what’s important in our society.”
There is a good shot maybe not.
Green Day, the famed punk rock band set to perform before Super Bowl LX as part of a ceremony honoring the game’s MVPs, has been notoriously opposed to President Donald Trump’s administration. Last year, the band took aim at Vice President JD Vance.
Bad Bunny will perform at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles on March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
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Bad Bunny has also expressed his displeasure with US Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its operations throughout the United States. Outrage against federal agents grew in the wake of the Minnesota deaths of Renee Goods and Alex Pretti.
“Before I thank God, I want to say ICE,” Bad Bunny said. “We are not wild, we are not animals, we are not aliens. We are human and we are Americans.”
Still, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell believed Bad Bunny understood the platform he was being given was meant to unite people.
“Look, Bad Bunny is, and I think it was demonstrated last night, one of the great performers in the world, and that’s one of the reasons we chose him,” Goodell said. “But the other reason is that he understood the platform he was on, and this platform is used to unite people and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, with their talents and to be able to use this moment to do that, and I think artists in the past have done that.
A detailed view of the Lombardi Trophy prior to a news conference with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center on February 2, 2026 in San Jose, California. (Logan Bowles/Getty Images)
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“I think Bad Bunny understands that and I think he’s going to have a great performance.”
