Lord, right people, pull yourself together. Spending so much energy being sad about a Super Bowl halftime player is unhealthy.
Yes they are still worried about Bad Bunny. So much so that they did the most hilariously impotent thing imaginable with lib code: they created Change.org petition.
“The Super Bowl halftime show should unite our country, honor American culture and remain family-friendly, not become a political stunt. Bad Bunny represents none of these values; his drag performance and style are the opposite of what families expect from football's biggest arena,” the petition reads.
Have any of these people seen Super Bowl Halftime Show over the past 25 years? We had people like Kendrick Lamar, Usher, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Shakira, Beyoncé and Prince. In fact, you'll have to go back until 2003 find a country artist, and it was Shania Twain, who at least dabbled in pop music.
You will notice that conservatives do not suggest that Twain return because she loves drag, non-binary and trans artists.
The anger towards the Puerto Rican rapper is actually pure racism.very subtle— disguised as a vague nostalgia for America's lost glory. But in reality, the right is just furious about what they might have to hear Spanish songs. And how dare conservatives force a foreign performer to watch – oh, wait… they keep forgetting that Puerto Rico is a US territory.
And those who signed this petition do not hesitate to post the most bigoted comments.
“The Super Bowl used to feel like America – strong, grounded, united. Now it feels like we're forgetting the people who built that unity with our bare hands. It's not about the music. It's about the memory. It's about a country that was once tall, proud and grateful – and the fear that we can't do it anymore,” one comment read.
“The people who built this unity with their bare hands”? What does this even mean?
Another signer wrote: “American sports speaks a language we understand.”
Okay, they're both racists. And rambling.
Or how about: “Most Americans speak English…there was no racial hatred, but it's true. I don't even really know who he is. Bring country music back to football! Stop listening to Jay Z all the time.”
You know that every time you see a qualifier like “no racial hatred,” what follows is guaranteed to be racist as hell.
“George Strait is a much better choice than someone who has no idea if he wants to be a guy or a girl,” someone else wrote.
Of course, let's add some homophobia here!
The only reason conservatives are particularly fixated on the Strait is because President Donald Trump called him Kennedy Center honoree earlier this year. There is no organic surge in demand here.
Plus, it's just awkward to compare Strait's numbers to Bad Bunny. In 2024 Bad Bunny songs were broadcast 11.5 billion times. He was also the most streamed artist on Spotify from 2020 to 2022. Latin Artist #1 in Billboard's report on the past 25 years. And his latest album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS”. hit No. 1 earlier this year.
To be fair, Strait, 73, does have a greatest hits album that's still on the Billboard 200… at number 119.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is certainly a man with a keen understanding of modern culture, Lee Greenwood thinks should play in the Super Bowl. Yes, a man who literally has one song that everyone knows: “God Bless the USA,” released in 1984. The dude is 82 years old – no one is calling for Greenwood.
But there's something else going on here besides disgusting racism. Conservatives are angry that they can't take over the culture. They control all three branches of government, and they terrorizing country, but they still can't get us to listen to some fifth-rate people who sided with Trump.
The NFL has no intention of getting rid of Bad Bunny, especially with a petition that has a measly 30,000 signatures.
How point of comparison this would certainly infuriate those who signed this petition, the “Justice for George Floyd” petition received 19 million signatures, the petition to designate the KKK as a terrorist organization received over 3 million, and the petition to cancel student debt received 800,000. Hell, even the petition to make actor LeVar Burton the host of “Jeopardy” collected 296,000 signatures.
Conservatives will have to settle for the alternative halftime show Turning Point USA, which now there is a website but there are no performers. Lara Trump stepped forward and offered to speakdespite literally never being asked. It will certainly make a huge difference what happens to her latest single received approximately 2,800 plays on Spotify.
If luck smiles on us, maybe Turning Point will put Creed in the headlines like they threatened. Then we could hope for a repeat of his 2001 halftime show. really crazy experience complete with shirtless men wearing aerial silks and the worst lip-syncing you've ever seen.
The idea of Creed as a family-friendly alternative to Bad Bunny is particularly comical. Lead singer Scott Stapp…okay, we'll need a list:
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He started a fight with members of group 311.
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He made a sex tape with Kid Rock and four women, for which had to go to court to prevent its sale. But that's okay, because it's okay for Christians like Stapp to get blowjobs from groupies. it's not really sex.
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He was arrested for public intoxication approximately 24 hours after the wedding.
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He was charged with domestic violencewhich was later ruled an offence.
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He jumped off from a hotel balcony in Miami during a drug binge, fell 40 feet and fractured his skull, hip and nose.
This is for the whole family, right?
On the contrary, literally the only dirt you can dig up on Bad Bunny is that his ex-girlfriend sued him in 2023 for including a recording of her saying “Bad Bunny, baby” in two songs, for which she demanded $40 million.
There's nothing the right can do to change the fact that Bad Bunny is going to perform at the Super Bowl. He will sing in Spanish. He could wear a dress. He could kiss the dude. But whatever he does, he will reflect the United States, a multilingual country of immigrants and a magnificent mixture of cultures.
George Strait never could.
