{"id":202135,"date":"2025-10-10T04:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T04:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/202135\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T04:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T04:57:10","slug":"people-really-are-learning-spanish-for-bad-bunnys-super-bowl-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/202135\/","title":{"rendered":"People really are learning Spanish for Bad Bunny\u2019s Super Bowl show"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Bad Bunny told America on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d<\/a> last week that people still have a few months to learn Spanish to get ready to best enjoy his Super Bowl halftime show performance.\n <\/p>\n

\n Some Black people aren\u2019t playing about it, as seen on social media.\n <\/p>\n

\n There\u2019s a groundswell of support bubbling up for the international superstar, with plenty of posts<\/a> and comments among Black people celebrating Bad Bunny\u2019s selection for the prestigious gig.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s a national conversation about who gets represented on one of the biggest stages in American sports and entertainment \u2013 and how language and identity play into that.\n <\/p>\n

\n Actor and influencer O\u2019Neil Thomas has shared massively successful posts about learning Spanish in the time since Bad Bunny and the NFL made the consequential announcement.\n <\/p>\n

\n Puerto Rican singing sensation and actor Ricky Martin liked Thomas\u2019 first post<\/a>; language education app Duolingo commented, \u201cI see a 4 month Spanish streak in your future.\u201d The post amassed more than 9 million views.\n <\/p>\n

\n Thomas told CNN in a recent interview that he\u2019s been Facetiming with his Dominican friend to learn Bad Bunny music lyrics and how to properly pronounce necessary words. His family is getting in on the Spanish lessons, since they always watch the halftime show together. This year, they will be joined by some of his Latino friends.\n <\/p>\n

\"O'Neil<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think right now we can all agree that there is a large amount of divisiveness and dividing in a country that is meant to be a pool of multiple walks of life and different cultures and communities,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cSo I think Bad Buddy is the perfect person to be at the forefront of reminding this country what is so great.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s a different conversation than what was being had soon after the presidential election in November 2024.\n <\/p>\n

\n At that time, there was discontent among some in the Black community with the increased support for Donald Trump among Latino voters.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN\u2019s national exit poll<\/a> found Trump won 54 percent of Latino men compared to Harris\u2019 44 percent \u2014 an 18-point increase in Latino Republican turnout from 2020.\n <\/p>\n

\n But Latinos are not a monolith. And Bad Bunny, who was born Benito Antonio Mart\u00ednez Ocasio in Puerto Rico, has been an outspoken critic of the current administration.\n <\/p>\n

\n His criticism has led supporters of the president to label him a \u201cTrump hater,\u201d<\/a> and they\u2019ve called for him to be replaced as the halftime performer.\n <\/p>\n

\n Even President Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson have weighed in.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t know who he is. I don\u2019t know why they\u2019re doing it \u2014 it\u2019s, like, crazy,\u201d Trump said in a recent interview with Newsmax. <\/a>\u201cThen they blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it\u2019s absolutely ridiculous.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI didn\u2019t even know who Bad Bunny was, but it sounds like a terrible decision in my view,\u201d Johnson said,<\/a> suggesting 82-year-old country musician Lee Greenwood, whose song \u201cGod Bless the USA\u201d is one of President Trump\u2019s favorites, perform instead.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s hard to make the argument that Bad Bunny is not a big enough star to have earned the accolade, given that he is a three-time Grammy winner who recently completed a sold out two-month residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jos\u00e9 Miguel Agrelot in San Juan \u2013 a series that wrapped with a concert that broke streaming records on Amazon<\/a> and brought in millions of dollars for the local economy in his beloved Puerto Rico.\n <\/p>\n

\n But in the US, his critics have attempted to paint him as anti-American despite the fact that he is an American (Puerto Rico is a territory of the US). Bad Bunny declined to bring his tour to mainland USA<\/a> for fear that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement would pose a danger to his fans in attendance.\n <\/p>\n

\n Emil Medina worked with Bad Bunny for four years as the founder and chief operating officer of Buena Vibra Group, a Puerto Rican creative firm. Medina said the artist is a \u201ccreative genius\u201d who is \u201clike a sponge\u201d and very much tapped into all the conversation being had about and around him.\n <\/p>\n

\n Bad Bunny is also someone who stands firm in his support of marginalized people.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019re the agency that helped Bad Bunny promote his first years and we started sharing info (with Bad Bunny) about the social injustice in United States because he wants to do the crossover (into the US market),\u201d Medina explained. \u201cAnd in 2020, when the George Floyd incident happened, we created a local statement (in Puerto Rico) with Black Lives Matter. People were not aware about Black Lives Matter, and we created a big footprint and some murals on the streets and Bad Bunny was a strong advocate.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Puerto Rico is the home of \u201cAfrican Caribbeans and we have a strong connection with the African American community,\u201d Medina said.\n <\/p>\n

\n He added that \u201chere in Puerto Rico, we support all the African American issues,\u201d and pointed out that young Puerto Ricans in particular are politically engaged.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey\u2019re very active, they are very well outspoken about those issues,\u201d Medina said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the biggest fandom of Bad Bunny.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Albert Laguna, an associate professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Race, & Migration at Yale University, noted that when it comes to Bad Bunny, \u201che\u2019s the number one streamed artist across the world. There\u2019s something about his music that\u2019s really sticking with people.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn the context of Black communities, it\u2019s an opportunity to talk about the Black roots, right? The Afro-Puerto Rican, Afro-Caribbean roots of so much of his music that is ringing bells for folks right across the global Black diaspora,\u201d Laguna said. \u201cYou can\u2019t talk about reggaeton without talking about hip-hop. Hip-hop is born in the South Bronx with West Indians, African-Americans, and Puerto Ricans creating this music that travels to Puerto Rico, mixes with Jamaican dance hall, mixes with Panamanian reggae en Espa\u00f1ol to form this reggaeton.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n And there is no bigger star in the reggaeton genre than Bad Bunny, who started out as an Latin trap music artist and is now known for blending the genres of pop, hip-hop, trap, reggae, rock, soul and world music.\n <\/p>\n

\n He has clearly also expanded his reach in pop culture, having recently hosted \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d for the second time and also, of course, having been selected to headline next year\u2019s Super Bowl halftime show<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\"Host<\/p>\n

\n Laguna said the ensuing backlash to his selection for the big sporting event was \u201cpredictable,\u201d but he liked how the star handled it.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t kind of get in the mud with people criticizing him from the right. He just said \u2018learn some Spanish, they could listen to the show,\u2019 which I thought was quite funny,\u201d Laguna said of Bad Bunny\u2019s buzzy \u201cSNL\u201d monologue over the weekend.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI also think on some level what\u2019s bothering folks is like, he\u2019s gonna come on his US passport. You can\u2019t revoke a visa, there are no games you can play with (his) immigration, right?\u201d he added. \u201cHe can come and play the Super Bowl and sing in Spanish, and there\u2019s not much that could be done to stop him.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Historian and content creator Anthony Modesto Milian told CNN that as an Afro-Latino, he feels \u201cvery prideful\u201d and \u201csuper ecstatic\u201d about Bad Bunny\u2019s selection by the NFL.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI was telling my friend the other day, what a time to be Puerto Rican,\u201d he said. \u201cBad Bunny is shining light on all of us. He\u2019s shining light on the whole diaspora.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Bad<\/p>\n

\n He said it should be no surprise \u201cthat African American people are locked in with Puerto Ricans in their appreciation and love for Bad Bunny,\u201d adding that both African Americans and Latinos have felt targeted by the current administration.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf you look at the history of Puerto Ricans when they left the island, a lot of them moved to places where they lived alongside African American people,\u201d Milian said. \u201cThe Bronx, Brooklyn, Connecticut, Massachusetts, places like that. And so it\u2019s really more of like a familial thing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The influencer said there is one family member he wishes was still here to witness how far Bad Bunny has come.\n <\/p>\n

\n Milian said his father, who passed away two years ago, was \u201cold school\u201d and not as much a fan of Bad Bunny\u2019s earlier reggaeton style.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBut when I listened to this album, he did a lot of salsa, he did a lot of traditional music,\u201d he said of the artist\u2019s most recent record. \u201cAnd the thing about the name of the album, \u2018I Should\u2019ve Taken More Photos\u2019 (\u2018DeB\u00cd TiRAR M\u00e1S FOToS\u2019) is I wish that my dad was still here to hear the music that he put out now, because I know he would\u2019ve loved it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n