NFL won't give up Bad Bunny as Super Bowl halftime star, commissioner Roger Goodell said on Wednesday.
At the same time, Goodell confirmed the decision to attract a Puerto Rican artist on the league's biggest stagewhich drew criticism from Donald Trump and some of his supporters.
Goodell addressed the controversy in his press conference following the annual fall owners meeting. This is the first time he has commented on the move, which has received worldwide attention including increased streams of Bad Bunny's music as well as backlash.
“This is carefully thought out,” Goodell said. “I'm not sure we've ever picked an artist that didn't get backlash or criticism. That's pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people watching.”
Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, was an outspoken Trump opponent. He recently decided to do a 31-day residency in Puerto Ricoavoiding stops on the U.S. mainland, citing concerns about mass deportations of Latinos.
The 31-year-old is performing in Spanish and is expected to do so in Super Bowl.
“We are confident it will be a great show,” Goodell said. “He understands the platform he's on and I think it's going to be an exciting and unified moment.”
The San Francisco 49ers will host the Super Bowl on February 8th at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. It's unclear whether Trump plans to attend, although in-person attendance at major sporting events has become a big part of his second term.
Trump, in an interview with the conservative news network Newsmax, said he had “never heard” of Bad Bunny.
“I don't know who he is,” Trump said. “I don't know why they do this. It's just crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to do the entertainment. I think it's absolutely ridiculous.”
Goodell defended the decision on Wednesday, explaining that it was made due to Bad Bunny's enormous popularity.
“He is one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world,” Goodell said. “That's what we're trying to achieve. It's an important milestone for us. It's an important element of entertainment value.”
