Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show: 'Dance Party' or 'Disgusting?'

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance on Sunday drew widely split reviews and framing from critics across the political spectrum.

From The Right: Fox News (Right bias), like many conservative media outlets, focused most prominently on negative criticisms of the performance. Fox highlighted President Donald Trump's stance that it was "an affront to the Greatness of America" that "doesn't represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence." He asserted, "Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children… and watch, it will get great reviews from the Fake News Media." The outlet noted later in its article that "some fans and sports stars praised the show." It gave voice to a handful of those as well but exhibited viewpoint placement bias. The article concluded with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's stance, contrasting Trump's, that Bad Bunny "understood the platform he was on… to unite people and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, with their talents."

From The Center: The Wall Street Journal (Center) positively framed the "history-making" performance as "a buoyant celebration of Latino culture." The outlet said Bad Bunny "paid tribute to his heritage and the many countries – from Brazil to Mexico – whose people have come to shape the modern-day US." The article mentioned the performance's criticisms from conservatives, but it focused instead on the lavishness and grandeur, quoting a fan who said, "It should be inspiring to anyone watching." The Journal said Bad Bunny "delivered a pointed message in Spanish to millions of Americans… 'We're still here.'" It also mentioned Turning Point USA's "All-American Halftime Show" that served as an alternative to Bad Bunny's performance, saying the event "garnered roughly five million views on the group's YouTube page." (Note: As of 11:00 a.m. ET on 2/9/26, the number climbed to about 19 million).

From The Left: While Fox News referred to Bad Bunny as a "Latin trap artist," CNN (Lean Left) called him a "Puerto Rican superstar," saying the artist "rewrote what it means to be American in a time of strife." The outlet analyzed, "While the US often uses the word 'America' to identify itself as a single, distinct country, many of its neighbors use it to refer to a greater unified continent, a point that Bad Bunny hammered home when he spiked a football that read 'Together we are America.'" It sensationally called the performance a "dance party with a message" and "a joyous and high-energy affair that celebrated the island where he was born and its place in the American story." The outlet asserted, "Bad Bunny declared himself an American patriot in the broadest sense of the term" and "made good on his promise that viewers didn't need to learn Spanish in order to enjoy his halftime show." CNN choicely highlighted the moment when the artist "stared down the camera and spoke in English for the only time during the performance to say, 'God Bless America,'" but did not mention the artist's list of about two dozen other countries that followed.

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