{"id":169354,"date":"2026-02-08T15:38:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/169354\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T15:38:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:38:38","slug":"fresno-state-prof-on-bad-bunny-at-super-bowl-viewers-will-watch-to-love-him-or-hate-him-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/169354\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno State prof. on Bad Bunny at Super Bowl. Viewers will watch to \u2018love him or hate him\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many Latinos, superstar Bad Bunny could represent cultural visibility at a time when Latino identity is under attack, said Luis Fernando Mac\u00edas, associate professor in the Department of Chicano and Latin American Studies at Fresno State.<\/p>\n

Mac\u00edas talked about the cultural and political impact of Bad Bunny\u2019s music with The Fresno Bee ahead of Sunday\u2019s Super Bowl, one of the most-watched entertainment events in the world.<\/p>\n

Mac\u00edas, whose area of research is immigration, education, and ethnic studies, said Bad Bunny has the \u201cability to use his music\u201d to promote important conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attention that he is bringing not just to his music, but the way he\u2019s able to use his music for people to ask questions that otherwise they would not have asked, such as, what is he talking about in this album? Why is this album so popular? What is the controversy with him being in the Super Bowl?\u201d said Mac\u00edas. \u201cThose are the best questions to ask to then get into deeper questions about Puerto Rican identity, Puerto Rican history, Puerto Rican culture, politics, and then even largely how Latinos fit into the United States history, America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born as Benito Antonio Mart\u00ednez Ocasio in the unincorporated U.S territory of Puerto Rico, the rapper, singer and record producer, is on a roll making music history, but not without some controversy.<\/p>\n

His music has achieved mainstream popularity worldwide, and the \u201cKing of Latin Trap\u201d is considered one of the best Latin rappers of all time.<\/p>\n

His album \u201cDeb\u00ed Tirar M\u00e1s Fotos\u201d (I Should Have Taken More Photos) won album of the year at the 2026 Grammys on Feb. 1, making history as the first Spanish-language album to win the top accolade. Bad Bunny also took home the Grammy for Best m\u00fasica urbana album and Best global music performance.<\/p>\n

\"Bad<\/p>\n

Bad Bunny poses with his Album of the Year, Best Musica Urbana Album and Best Global Music Performance awards during the Grammys on Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Matt Winkelmeyer\/Getty)<\/p>\n

The album also topped Apple\u2019s Music\u2019s China albums chart, the first for any Spanish album. He will deliver the first Super Bowl halftime headlining show in Spanish.<\/p>\n

Bad Bunny\u2019s Cultural Significance<\/p>\n

His acceptance speech at the Grammys reflected rising protest across the country after ICE detainments and killings in Minnesota, including protests across cities in the Central Valley, such as Fresno and Modesto.<\/p>\n

Mac\u00edas said Bad Bunny has a way of presenting complex issues in a few words. Bad Bunny\u2019s \u201cIce Out\u201d statement at the Grammys is proof of \u201cbeing able to say something so relevant with just two words,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a preview of what I hope will be the forefront of his performance on Sunday, saying a lot in a very direct way,\u201d said Macias, noting that Bad Bunny was the most streamed artist on Spotify last year. . \u201cAnd the way that he chooses his words, I have faith that he will do so in a way that resonates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mac\u00edas said, in most recent years the Super Bowl halftime committee has chosen artists that are current, political and unapologetic.<\/p>\n

And with Bad Bunny headlining this year, Mac\u00edas said, \u201cpeople are going to tune in to love him or hate him, but there will be a conversation and that speaks to how important his art is at this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you have people that otherwise would have never listened to Bad Bunny will tune in, and I\u2019m hoping that they listen with good faith to find out more about his music, to find out more about Puerto Rico, Latinos, the history of colonization,\u201d Mac\u00edas said.<\/p>\n

As an ethnic studies professor, Mac\u00edas said the big takeaway is that \u201c You don\u2019t have to forget your culture, your language, your customs, continue being yourself. And that is the light that shines the brightest.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the conservative organization Turning Point USA unveiled an alternative Super Bowl halftime show lineup with Kid Rock , the organization went from a dog whistle to a bullhorn for white nationalist sentiments by framing it as an \u201cAll-American Halftime Show,\u201d Mac\u00edas said.<\/p>\n

This week White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump would prefer to watch Kid Rock instead of Bad Bunny for the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show.<\/p>\n

\"Kid<\/p>\n

Kid Rock and Bad Bunny<\/p>\n

(Getty Images; FilmMagic)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re indicating that\u2019s not really American. We are American. That\u2019s something else, and that\u2019s part of the playbook of racist white nationalist mantra,\u201d Mac\u00edas said.<\/p>\n

\"Bad<\/p>\n

Bad Bunny performs onstage at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 17, 2025.<\/p>\n

(Kevin Winter\/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many Latinos, superstar Bad Bunny could represent cultural visibility at a time when Latino identity is under…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[29160,80632,112,114,113,742,81129,11730],"class_list":{"0":"post-169354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-bad-bunny","9":"tag-benito-antonio-martinez-ocasio","10":"tag-fresno","11":"tag-fresno-headlines","12":"tag-fresno-news","13":"tag-fresno-state","14":"tag-luis-fernando-macias","15":"tag-super-bowl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}