One nation, however, this nation was divided by one of the most notable musical events of the year.
Super Bowl Sunday is always a big hit in homes across America. People enjoy watching teams they’ve been rooting for, eating yummy snacks, and of course, watching the halftime show. This year, the halftime show received divided opinions among fans after it was announced in September that Grammy winner Bad Bunny would be performing.
According to ABC News, Bad Bunny has sparked a cultural debate around the changing of language and representation at one of America’s most iconic events. The debate came from President Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, which has created national division all over the United States. 69% of voters on a poll asking “was Bad Bunny the right choice for the halftime show Sunday?” explain that the Super Bowl halftime show has always been a very English-centered event, so they find the shift to primarily Spanish-speaking performances inappropriate.
Marta Grabowski is a Spanish teacher at Loy Norrix who also has some opinions on this “English-centered” event.
“Spanish is the second most spoken language in the U.S. There’s a huge population that knows Spanish and also knows who [Bad Bunny] is,” said Grabowski. “He’s been getting super popular lately, I mean, he hosted SNL. He’s not just some random Latino artist.”
To oppose Bad Bunny, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) hosted an alternative halftime show. Kid Rock performed alongside Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett.
TPUSA is a non-profit organization that funded “Turning Point USA’s All-American Halftime Show”. An article by Forbes explains that TPUSA is made to, “advocate for conservative views at American high schools, universities and colleges,” and promises, “a show promoting family values and Christianity.” TPUSA was founded by the late Charlie Kirk, who was a right-wing political activist.
The two different halftime shows represent a division of cultural acceptance. According to The Battalion, the reasoning behind the TPUSA event was to convince the NFL that hiring Bad Bunny went against their “all-American” traditional Super Bowl halftime show.
Grabowski explained that the NFL isn’t trying to be traditional, they are trying to make money.
“I think they are trying to get a Latino fan base, showing that like ‘we support you, we’re the good guys, you can enjoy the NFL.’ The NFL always wants to make more money and be more popular,” said Grabowski.
The NFL does what benefits them. They don’t align politically except for when it is their best interest. A large majority of the U.S. cares about traditionalism, and being “All-American.”
This traditionalism also led to threats of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents attending Bad Bunny’s performance. According to The Independent, Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, said that she wanted to catch anyone who isn’t a “law-abiding American who loves this country.” However, according to ESPN, the NFL responded to the Trump administration.
NFL Chief Security Officer Cathy Lainer assured that neither ICE nor Federal law enforcement would be allowed into the stadium.
“There are no planned ICE enforcement activities. We are confident of that,” Lanier said to ESPN.
The entirety of the separation of these two events is cultural segregation. America was once known as the melting pot of the world, but now, due to the influence of the Trump administration, TPUSA is separating performances because of the political separation in our country. In the past, the Super Bowl has unified players and fans by bringing them together to enjoy one game and performance. It has now been turned into a “Democrat vs. Republican” campaign by our current President.
The idea of a Spanish performance being “inappropriate,” especially from a performer who is from Puerto Rico, an American territory, is blatant racism. If TPUSA was really about preaching Christian values, they would “love thy neighbor,” without distinction.
