Bad Bunny performs during the half time show at Super Bowl LX between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots in Santa Clara, Calif. on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. FCC records show more than 2,000 complaints tied to the performance at Levi’s Stadium.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime show at Levi’s Stadium drew more than a massive TV audience. It also generated more than 2,000 complaints to the Federal Communications Commission.
The FCC released five batches of viewer complaints this month tied to the Feb. 8 game, which NBC broadcast from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. There were 2,158 entries, most focused on the Apple Music halftime show starring the Puerto Rican superstar, objecting to the Spanish-language performance, sexually suggestive choreography and what they described as inappropriate content during a family broadcast.
Texas viewers filed the most, with 226, followed by Florida with 182 and California with 156, according to the FCC release.
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The agency previously reviewed Bad Bunny’s performance and found no violation of federal broadcast standards.
But the newly released records show how one of the Bay Area’s biggest televised events became a national flashpoint over language, culture, sexuality, immigration and what viewers expect from the Super Bowl.
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“My concern is not about language, heritage, or identity, but about the appropriateness of the content presented during a family-viewing time slot,” one Nebraska viewer wrote.
Bad Bunny’s performance, staged at the 49ers’ home stadium, was delivered largely in Spanish and featured Puerto Rican and Latin American cultural imagery. It included appearances by Lady Gaga and fellow Puerto Rican artist Ricky Martin, and ended with the phrase “Together, we are America.”
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For fans, the halftime show was a milestone for Latin music on one of the world’s largest pop culture stages. For complainants, it was something else entirely.
Those viewers repeatedly argued that Spanish-language lyrics should be held to the same standards as English lyrics and were upset that “bad words” said in Spanish were not censored. Some said they understood Spanish or had children who did. Others said they looked up translations after the broadcast.
Many objected less to specific lyrics than to the fact that the performance was largely in Spanish. Several complaints included anti-immigrant or anti-Latino remarks.
“There are illegals on my TV screen,” one North Carolina viewer wrote. “I don’t understand Spanish, but I think I heard inappropriate language.”
A Charlotte, N.C., viewer cited the songs “Safaera” and “Yo Perreo Sola,” writing that the performance included “overtly sexualized movements, including widespread twerking, grinding, pelvic thrusts and other sexually suggestive conduct.”
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“That was the most disgusting inappropriate show,” a viewer in Las Vegas wrote. “I had to make all of my children go into the next room!”
Some compared the show to the 2004 Super Bowl halftime controversy involving Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. In that case, the FCC fined CBS a record $550,000.
Many asked the FCC to do the same and fine NBC, the NFL, Apple Music, Bad Bunny and/or others involved in the production.
But Bad Bunny was not the only subject of this year’s wave of Super Bowl broadcast gripes.
Before kickoff, a trailer for “Scream 7” aired shortly after the national anthem, prompting complaints from parents who said they were surprised by a horror movie commericial during what they considered family programming.
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One Tennessee viewer wrote that their children were “scared and huddling” because the family could not turn the channel fast enough. A Plano, Texas, parent described the spot as a “violent horror advertisement during family broadcast,” saying it aired while 6-year-old twins were watching.
Still, the volume of complaints were small compared with the broadcast’s audience. Nielsen said Super Bowl LX averaged 125.6 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched Super Bowl. The halftime show drew an even larger average audience, according to previously reported Nielsen figures.
The FCC’s rules prohibit obscene material on broadcast television at any time and restrict indecent or profane material during hours when children are likely to be watching. But the legal standard turns on context, explicitness and whether the material aired in a way that meets the agency’s definitions.