"The Super Bowl halftime show is a giant, overstuffed program that is about celebrating its own overstuffedness. It's a maximalist entertainment spectacle set in the middle of the most maximalist entertainment spectacle in sports, where football is stretched out over five hours in order to show people commercials where society's most famous people hawk society's worst products. Thus it makes sense that halftime performance duties are usually bestowed upon the biggest pop stars of the moment,"
"Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican rapper, singer, and all-around superstar, has become the biggest artist in a global cultural zeitgeist no longer dominated exclusively by English-language music. He is extremely popular all over the world, including right here in the U.S., a country traditionally dismissive of artists that don't conform to a straitjacketed idea of "Americanness." The strain of all these tensions was evident the moment Bad Bunny was first announced as this year's performer."
"The usual suspects in the culture war pounced on the choice, accusing the NFL of the capital crime of felony wokeness, robbing these true patriots of the chance to celebrate "real America." This reaction was best encapsulated in two things: firstly, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson wondering aloud why the NFL couldn't have settled instead on a performer like Lee Greenwood, the octogenarian singer best known for 1984's "God Bless the USA";"
The Super Bowl halftime show is a maximalist spectacle nested inside the even larger spectacle of the Super Bowl and its commercialized excess. Halftime duties typically go to the era's biggest pop stars because their scale matches the event's overblown nature. Bad Bunny has risen to become the world's biggest artist within a multicultural, multilingual global pop moment. His popularity challenges traditional American tastes that favor English-language conformity. The announcement provoked culture-war backlash, including calls for Lee Greenwood and a Turning Point USA alternative show starring Kid Rock. The choice reflects shifting definitions of stardom and cultural influence.
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