Texans had more to say than residents of any other state about Super Bowl LX and Bad Bunny’s halftime show, according to the Federal Communications Commission — and they said it with great conviction.
According to a Dallas Morning News analysis of complaints made to the FCC regarding the broadcast, which the agency released on its website Friday, no state filed more complaints than Texas did, with more than 10% of the 2,157 complaints originating here.
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“It was a disgrace and an embarrassment for US all,” one person wrote from Dallas.
Filing a complaint from Plano with a subject line, “Violent Horror Advertisement During Family Broadcast,” another person wrote: “While I do not speak Spanish, how in the world could anyone let Bad Bunny be broadcast, saying the things that he did, without it being censored?”
Identifying themselves as a Texan from the city of “none of your business,” the author of another complaint emphasized how little of the show they could bring themselves to watch.
“so much for an all American sport and entertainment. that was disgraceful, inappropriate and disgusting!!!!” that complainant wrote. “at least the 5 seconds i watched because i was so offended.”
According to The News’ analysis, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio led in complaints with eight each of the 226 total people who identified themselves as Texans. Houston came in fourth, with six. Four of the complaints came from Dallas.
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More than 40% of the Texas complaints — 92 — mentioned Bad Bunny by name. That matched the percentage of total complaints who mentioned him nationally. About 30% used the word “vulgar” and 14% found the performance “disgusting.”
Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio in Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny performed for 13 minutes at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., during the pause in the Seattle Seahawks’ defeat of the New England Patriots. The week before, he won a Grammy for album of the year.
The complaints filed with the FCC weren’t the only reviews he got. The New York Times called his performance “joyful.” To Time magazine, it was an “act of resistance.”
The only complaint to have identified the author as being from Bad Bunny’s native Puerto Rico was perhaps sent from Pennsylvania instead, with the sender choosing the wrong state from the complaint form’s dropdown menu. In that one, the author claims a location of “Pittsburgh.”
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