As Bad Bunny is selling out concerts all around the world, it’s worth remembering the outrage over his Superbowl performance which was hilarious to say the least.

Members of the US House of Representatives who are mostly Republicans had called for action by launching an investigation into the Puerto Rican Reggaeton superstar for his Spanish-language performance to an English-speaking audience, for allegedly “depicting gay porno” and for holding his crotch at the Superbowl halftime show. 

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The Independent published a report ‘MAGA lawmaker wants a federal investigation into ‘explicit and indecent’ Bad Bunny halftime show’, I wish this was just a joke, or that it came from a satire news organization such as The Onion, but it’s not, this really happened. According to the report,

“An ultra-conservative lawmaker is calling for a federal investigation into Bad Bunny’s “explicit and indecent” halftime show at the Super Bowl.” 

One of the leading congress members who is supposedly a hero to the MAGA cult for taking on Bad Bunny, Representative Andy Ogles, a Republican from Tennessee, who also receives funds from the Israeli-backed lobbying organization, AIPAC “wrote to the House Energy and Commerce Committee to demand a “formal congressional inquiry” into the National Football League and NBCUniversal for airing the rapper’s performance.”  

Rolling Stone called it a dumb idea, ‘Republicans Have Moved into a New, Even Dumber Phase of Bad Bunny Outrage’ said that

“Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show continues to live rent-free in the minds of Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators” continued, “Plenty of right-wingers were outraged that the NFL tapped the Puerto Rican star for the show, and criticized the Spanish-language performance in real time. The GOP isn’t letting it go, and has since called for multiple investigations into those responsible, while making a hilarious show of translating and dissecting Bad Bunny lyrics in public.”

The accusations are more than ridiculous, these politicians should be embarrassed of themselves more than anything:

The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show was pure smut, brazenly aired on national television for every American family to witness. Children were forced to endure explicit displays of gay sexual acts, women gyrating provocatively, and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his crotch while dry-humping the air,” Ogles wrote. “The performance’s lyrics openly glorified sodomy and countless other unspeakable depravities

Ogles claimed that Bad Bunny’s show was X-rated “Ogles claimed in a post on X that the show “depicted gay pornography” (we couldn’t find any) and that the performance was “conclusive proof that Puerto Rico should never be a state.” There was no “gay porno,” but I do agree with his second part that Puerto Rico should never be a state which I will get into shortly. However, another Congressman, Republican Representative Randy Fine of Florida, an Israeli first politician who loves the Genocide in Gaza has called for the FCC to investigate Bad Bunny’s performance wrote on X that “disgusting halftime show was illegal” and that had Bad Bunny “said these lyrics — and all of the other disgusting and pornographic filth in English on live TV, the broadcast would have been pulled down and the fines would have been enormous.” 

Fine also said that

“Puerto Ricans are Americans, and we all live by the same rules” and that he would be sending a letter to the FCC demanding that “dramatic action, including fines and broadcast license reviews, against the NFL, NBC, and ‘Bad Bunny.”

Puerto Ricans are not Americans, we are a colonized people under the “commonwealth” label treating us as Americans who cannot vote for a US president and can be drafted into foreign wars for the American Empire. But I digress. Fine’s approach to Bad Bunny is outrageous. Meanwhile his top priority is Israel, who is literally committing a genocide in Gaza and now, Lebanon, but that’s another major issue.

Another AIPAC supported politician, Representative Mark Alford, a Republican from Missouri spoke on the issue on Real America’s Voice and said that although he doesn’t “speak fluent Spanish” the “lyrics from what we’ve seen from Bad Bunny are very disturbing.” He doesn’t speak Spanish yet, what he saw is “disturbing”? Whatever. It’s not the first time Republicans were outraged at Super Bowl performers who happened to be minorities or people of color:

Conservatives running to the FCC to complain about the moral turpitude of Super Bowl halftime-show performances is practically an annual tradition. Kendrick Lamar’s record-breaking performance last year drew 125 complaints, including accusations that the rapper engaged in “vulgarity” and that Serena Williams’ guest appearance — in which she performed a Crip Walk dance — glorified “gang” affiliations. Rihanna’s 2023 show was also met with FCC complaints, including hysterics that “twerking should rank up there with the F bomb,” and claims that her backup dancers’ white suits were intended to represent sperm. In 2016, the FCC was flooded with messages complaining that Beyoncé’s guest appearance for Bruno Mars was “no different than white people wearing KKK attire.” Shakira and Jennifer Lopez (with a cameo by Bad Bunny) received more than 1,300 complaints for their 2020 performance

Turning Point USA had a concert to counter Bad Bunny’s Superbowl halftime show and it was a disaster.  One of the songs was by the untalented ‘Kid Rock’, yes, the one who got his fame by dating Baywatch star, Pamela Anderson, performed a song called ‘Bawitdaba’ whatever that means, however, here is one of his lyrics:

And this is for the questions that don’t have any answers
The midnight glancers and the topless dancers
The gander freaks, the cars packed with speakers
The G’s with the 40’s and the chicks with beepers
The Northern Lights and the Southern Comfort
And it don’t even matter if their veins are punctured
All the crackheads, the critics, the cynics
And all my heroes in the Methadone clinics
All you bastards at the IRS
This for the crooked cops and the cluttered desks

This for the shots of Jack and the caps of meth
The half pints of love and the 5ths of stress
This for my hookers all trickin’ out in Hollywood
And for my hoods of the world misunderstood
I said, “It’s all good, and it’s all in fun”
Now get in the pit and try to love someone

Yes, you read that right. MAGA is outraged at Bad Bunny’s performance, yet, Kid Rock raps about crystal meth and “hookers all trickin’ out in Hollywood and so forth,“ but that’s ok? The hypocrisy is truly breathtaking, but you get the point.

Not only Kid Rock’s songs were bad, he lip-synced his whole performance. The Hollywood Reporter published,

‘Kid Rock Explains “Lip Sync” Super Bowl Performance, Admits “It Did Not Line Up” said that “President Trump’s favorite rock artist is defending his Super Bowl halftime show counter-programming performance against allegations of lip syncing” continued, “Kid Rock took to X to explain, “My halftime performance was pre-recorded but performed live. No lip-syncing like the haters and fake news are trying to report. When they synced the cameras to my performance on ‘Bawitdaba,’ it did not line up as I explain in this video.” 

So what Kid Rock is saying is that he “lip synced” without saying that he lip synced?

The Americanization of Puerto Rico Did Not Fully Americanize the Puerto Rican People

The Conversation, published an article on the blatant racism, ‘The backlash to Bad Bunny’s halftime show reveals how MAGA defines who belongs in America’ based on MAGA cult members such as Fox News commentators who have criticized Bad Bunny’s performance such as Tomi Lahren’s outburst saying that

“Bad Bunny is “not an American artist,” U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s threats to have ICE present at the halftime show and one Fox News host’s description of Ocasio as a “cross-dresser who doesn’t speak English” all reveal the importance of ethno-nationalist and populist border-making for the American right.”   

The article emphasized some well-known facts

“Puerto Ricans are arguably treated as second-class citizens in the U.S.. In 2017, nearly 3,000 Puerto Ricans died waiting for assistance after Hurricane Maria struck. In contrast, the number of direct and indirect deaths for hurricanes that struck Florida and Texas weeks earlier was 84 and 94 respectively” continued, “Bad Bunny has been vocal about this neglect. He has regularly stood up for Puerto Rico, including cancelling his European tour in 2019 to protest the Puerto Rican governor’s sexist and homophobic comments.”

Time magazine which is part of the mainstream media reported what Bad Bunny’s performance meant for Puerto Rico and its history:

But Bad Bunny’s halftime show was a fierce act of resistance, and a triumph on many levels. It was an exuberant exercise in spectacle, stagecraft, choreography and camera work; you could have not understood a single word and still had a blast. It was also a sharp cultural and history lesson of Puerto Rico’s past and present; of what it means to live under colonization. Above all, it was a 13-minute capstone to why Bad Bunny is—and deserves to be—the biggest pop star in the world

Colonialism 1898-2026 

What history books in US public schools and beyond don’t teach is that when the US invaded Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was governed by back to back military dictatorships that included General Nelson Miles, Major General John R. Brooke, Major General Guy Vernon Henry and Major General George Whitefield Davis who were mostly experienced veterans in the ‘Indian Wars.’ The US occupation was a turning point for Puerto Rico which was considered an ‘unincorporated territory’ which meant the Island-nation did not have the same protections of the US constitution as Americans had on the mainland. The racism was obviously visible by statements made by American politicians such as U.S. Senator George Frisbie Hoar who described Puerto Ricans as “uneducated, simple-minded and harmless people who were only interested in wine, women, music and dancing.” He even recommended that the Spanish language should be abolished and that only English should be taught in Puerto Rican schools.

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General Nelson Miles and other soldiers on horseback in Puerto Rico (Public Domain)

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This was the start of the Americanization process so English was taught in schools which led to a large number of Puerto Ricans dropping out.  Then on May 17, 1932, the US Congress changed the island’s currency from the Puerto Rican peso to the US dollar, so in other words, the US dollarized Puerto Rico’s economy. The US exercised full control over Puerto Rico’s economy by preventing it from negotiating any sort of commercial treaties with foreign nations, or to imposing tariffs on imported goods, and to ship products from the island-nation on only US ships.

By 1952, Puerto Rico was solidified as a US colonial territory under Harry S. Truman, a Democrat from Missouri. What was considered the “colonial trap” transitioned Puerto Rico from a direct US territory to an “Estado Libre Asociado” (Commonwealth) that allowed Puerto Rico to have local autonomy under the US government’s boot, in other words, Puerto Rico became a full-fledged ‘US Colony.’

After Truman’s actions, Nationalists uprisings took place. In 1950, the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party led by Pedro Albizu Campos led uprisings across the island to protest US colonial rule. Truman’s regime backed the Puerto Rican National Guard to crush the rebellion and then ordered US military planes to bomb the towns of Jayuya and Utuado. Then on November 1st, 1950, two nationalists, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola attempted to assassinate Truman at the Blair House in Washington, D.C. to draw awareness on the international stage to the colonial dilemma of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico’s Governor at the time, Luis Muñoz Marín, marginalized pro-Puerto Rico independence under the Truman-backed ‘Act 600’ that passed in 1951 that allowed Puerto Rico to create its own constitution resulting in the Commonwealth status by 1952. It was a “trap” to crush the anti-colonial sentiment among the Puerto Rican population and it successfully removed Puerto Rico from the United Nations’ list of non-self-governing territories. By now, the US Congress and its president gained complete control over Puerto Rico.

We are in 2026, and Puerto Rico still remains to be one of the oldest colonies in the world. The US Empire is in decline, and with that said, there’s a growing percentage of Puerto Rico’s youth and its young professionals who reject colonialism.

La Progressive published an article based on the pivot to independence, ‘Puerto Rico’s Youth Pro-Sovereign Sentiment a Powerful Political Shift’ said that results from the “2024 elections and status plebiscite underscored this growing trend” in regards to a referendum on Puerto Rico’s political status between “statehood vs. non-statehood options resulted in a 51% to 49% rejection of statehood, with 43% of voters supporting sovereignty options (independence and free association).” The article also suggests that statehood is in decline among younger, educated Puerto Ricans who view “sovereignty as a necessary step toward self-determination and decolonization.” This is an extremely positive development:

The rise of pro-sovereignty sentiment, patriotism, and nationalism among Puerto Rico’s youth is one of the most significant political transformations in the island-nation’s history. Young Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico and in the diaspora, are rejecting the colonial status quo and questioning the viability of statehood, particularly in an ever-polarized and conflict-rife United States. Instead, they are embracing independence and free association as legitimate, viable futures for Puerto Rico.

As more young, educated professionals enter the political landscape, the movement for Puerto Rican sovereignty will only continue to grow. The 2024 plebiscite results prove that statehood is not the consensus choice of Puerto Ricans, and the 2028 elections could further solidify this shift. The future of Puerto Rico is in the hands of its young people, and their message is clear: it is time to move beyond colonialism and toward a sovereign future

Bad Bunny’s performance was historic, whether you are Puerto Rican or not, the Superbowl halftime show was a symbolic performance with a history lesson for its viewers. Bad Bunny is selling out concerts worldwide while Kid Rock and his MAGA cult members are still trying to cope with a Reggaeton superstar’s success who does not have a command of the English language and that’s why he performed in his native language which is Spanish, and one last thing on the language issue, Bad Bunny explained why he chose to perform in Spanish,

“English is not my first language. But it’s okay, it’s not America’s first language either.” 

Now that’s a drop the mic moment!

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Timothy Alexander Guzman writes on his own blog site, Silent Crow News, where this article was originally published.

He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

Featured image is from the author

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