The Superbowl half-time show always brings a lot of headlines, surprises and conversation worldwide and the 2026 half time show was no exception. Last weekend Bad Bunny made history as the first ever Latin artist to headline the halftime show, surpassing all expectations with a litany of guest appearances, surprises and an inspiring performance. It was one of the most anticipated half-time shows in recent years as it comes at an extremely divisive time for the American people.
As usual the concert included many celebrity cameos, most noticeably, both Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin joined the rapper for a song each. Lady Gaga’s Latin version of her Hit song ‘Die with a smile’ was sung as an actual wedding took place on the pitch. Fellow Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin sang a verse of ‘Lo que le paso a Hawaii’, a song which touches on themes of gentrification and colonisation in the US and their territories. Many more notable celebrities were seen dancing in ‘La Casita’ as Bad Bunny sang including Cardi B, Pedro Pascal, Jessica Alba and Alix Earle.
There were many symbolic moments during the show that seemed to be directed at the American government who are becoming more and more aggressive towards immigrants across the US. The ICE agency, fueled by president Trump’s hatred towards immigrants have become extremely violent and hostile in many parts of the US. Bad Bunny’s performance came at a perfect time to appreciate the incredibly large latin-american community in the US. At the end of his show Bad Bunny named every nation in America including South, Central and North America followed by “seguimos aquí”, Spanish for we are still here. He then spiked a football with the inscription ‘together, we are America’. The finish of the act was a firework show and a large banner projected on the screens of the stadium reading “The only thing more powerful than hate is love”. There is no doubt that the Superbowl half time show this year was one that expressed unity and support for all of the American people. Bad Bunny emphasised his love and admiration for the immigrants across the US through his performance with no encouragement for violence or hate.
Long before Bad Bunny had even taken the stage on Sunday, his show was making headlines and causing division, with some people saying a Spanish singer should not be doing the show. So much so that conservative organisation, Turning point USA organised an alternative half time show with Kid Rock as the headliner. Despite their efforts it made little difference as Bad Bunny’s performance had an incredible 135 million viewers. Many conservatives criticised his performance including president Trump with a tweet saying the performance was “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER”.
Despite all of the controversy surrounding it , Bad Bunny has received an abundance of praise for his historic halftime show. The singer had won the Grammy for best album just the week before, which also made an appearance on Sunday. He was also named the most streamed artist on Spotify for 2025. Bad Bunny has an incredible amount of support across America and the show on Sunday only emphasised that. The Superbowl LX halftime show was definitely history making at an incredibly tense and sensitive time in America.