{"id":167880,"date":"2026-02-25T02:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167880\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T02:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:21:10","slug":"bad-bunnys-halftime-performance-empowers-usfsps-latin-american-students-the-crows-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167880\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad Bunny\u2019s halftime performance empowers USFSP\u2019s Latin American students \u2013 The Crow’s Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI grew up mainly in Puerto Rico, so the Super Bowl wasn\u2019t really talked about. Usually, it\u2019s just the halftime show,\u201d said junior psychology major, Andrea Mojica Gonzalez. \u201cYou sit down and watch the halftime show, and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Secilia Ruiz<\/p>\n

Hispanic and Latin American families across the world gathered around their televisions on Feb. 8 with flags around their shoulders and pride in their hearts.<\/p>\n

Grammy-winning Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny made history with his performance at the 60th NFL Super Bowl halftime show, which he performed almost entirely in Spanish.<\/p>\n

Nerey Nunez, senior biology major and president of University of South Florida St. Petersburg\u2019s Latin American Student Association (LASA), said the selection of Bad Bunny for the halftime show was important to them because they are Puerto Rican, so they grew up connecting to his music.<\/p>\n

Junior environmental science major Adriana Santos echoed a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter whether or not we like his music\u2026 he\u2019s Puerto Rican, and it\u2019s important to uplift Puerto Rican artists,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n

Many fans felt that the timing of Bad Bunny\u2019s selection to perform was important, as he\u2019s always been a strong activist for the struggles of all Latin American people.<\/p>\n

\u201cBad Bunny has always been a person to speak out\u2026He\u2019s spoken out against the immigration policies. He\u2019s spoken out against the president before,\u201d said junior psychology major, Andrea Mojica Gonzalez. \u201cSo, for everything that\u2019s happening right now with ICE, you just knew that he was gonna say something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it was announced on Sept. 28 by the NFL and Apple Music that Bad Bunny would be performing at the Halftime show, there were a variety of strong reactions, including criticism.<\/p>\n

Some stated Bad Bunny\u2019s music is being primarily in Spanish, was not \u201cAmerican\u201d enough.<\/p>\n

However, junior English major Lauren Lee, pushed back on this notion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a singular language for the United States. It\u2019s a mix of cultures, and that\u2019s what America is about,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

Puerto Rico has been a part of the United States since Dec. 10, 1898.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like it came from a place of ignorance, calling Bad Bunny \u2018un-American,\u2019 or \u2018not American,\u2019\u201d Santos said. \u201cBecause Puerto Rico is an American colony. Whether I like it or not, it is a part of the United States, technically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the controversy, Bad Bunny performed a love letter to Puerto Rican and Latin American culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t grow up around a lot of Puerto Rican kids,\u201d Santos said. \u201cSo being able to see Puerto Rico on national TV was so huge for me and so huge for my whole family that we didn\u2019t really know how to react.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nunez pointed out the symbolism present throughout the performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only was it fun and it celebrated Puerto Rican culture\u2026 it also drew attention to some of Puerto Rico\u2019s social issues as well,\u201d Nunez said. \u201cLike when they performed \u2018El Apag\u00f3n\u2019 on the light poles, that kind of [represented] how there\u2019s frequent power outages in Puerto Rico because of mismanagement of their energy. So, it was very moving and very impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students felt Bad Bunny emphasized the importance of unity in his performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it has caused division, I also think it has caused union where maybe [we], as a community, didn\u2019t expect,\u201d an anonymous member of USF St. Peterburg\u2019s LASA told The Crow\u2019s Nest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already seen Bad Bunny\u2019s [Halftime] show bringing people together,\u201d Nunez said. \u201cJust on campus and people coming to\u2026 the Office of Multicultural Affairs, [which has a cardboard cutout of Bad Bunny displayed], and being like, \u2018I love [your] Bad Bunny cut out. He did such a good job,\u2019 and saying that they want to come to more LASA meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s desire is that this performance provides a sense of relief for Latin American people facing oppression right now and inspires lasting change in the way they are treated in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that [Latin American people] realize that there are people behind them supporting them\u2026and that we will stand and we will fight for them,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI hope people realize that love is more powerful than hate.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t Post Views: 64 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>
Written by: Secilia Ruiz<\/a> on February 24, 2026.
Last revised by: Julia Ferrara<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI grew up mainly in Puerto Rico, so the Super Bowl wasn\u2019t really talked about. Usually, it\u2019s just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-167880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}