Every year on the second Sunday in February, people gather in backyards, living rooms, bars, or a chosen stadium to watch the best two football teams compete for the title of Super Bowl Champions. People of all backgrounds watch these teams compete, but one demographic has seemingly claimed football as their sport: White, Republican men. Why don’t they want people of all races, genders, and ideals to join them in watching football? Can a sport that claims to be apolitical really remain unbiased during a time when politics is everything?
Two years ago, the National Football League (NFL) saw an influx of female viewers due to Taylor Swift dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. According to an article published in the Newsroom Panama, female viewership jumped to 63% when fans knew Swift would appear. Male fans of the game grew angry at the camera panning to Swift whenever Kelce caught the ball or scored a touchdown. This anger shifted to male fans being overall upset with women joining the fandom, claiming they didn’t know anything about football and only cheered for Kansas City because of Swift. The new fans for the Chiefs led to many others hating the Chiefs in spite of the Swifties. However, there were also recollections of dads bonding with their daughters because of a shared interest in the sport. This situation is what I’d consider the first big push from the NFL to branch out its audience, even if it wasn’t intentional.
The Halftime Show has seen a multitude of different performances from singers in all different genres. From Katy Perry and her humongous tiger to all your dads’ favorite rappers taking the stage together, to marching bands from different colleges rocking the stage. Whoever the artist is, the Super Bowl Halftime show always seems surrounded by controversy. Whether it be bad performances or unpopular artists, people love to share their opinions.
Last year, Kendrick Lamar was the halftime performer, and he also brought out SZA, Serena Williams, and Samuel L. Jackson. His halftime performance was the talk of the town. Everyone on TikTok analyzed it, pointing out the thinly-veiled political references. Lamar’s music has always been full of political commentary, but this performance really amplified this idea. The Super Bowl took place a month after President Donald Trump took office, and he was present at the Super Bowl. A famous line from Lamar’s performance is “The revolution is about to be televised / you picked the right time but the wrong guy.” This points to a war happening within the United States regarding the rights of the people, and how the country picked the wrong president for this affair.Â
The performance featured only Black dancers and highlighted the prejudice that Black people face in America. The last big political aspect of his performance was the role of Uncle Sam played by Samuel L. Jackson. After Kendrick Lamar performed “Squabble Up,” Jackson came onto the stage and said, “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto.” His whole performance was a political commentary, but it went over a lot of people’s heads. Those on the right even claimed that they didn’t understand the performance and therefore didn’t like it.
This year, the halftime performer is Bad Bunny, a rapper and singer from Puerto Rico (a territory of the United States). This announcement came after Bad Bunny’s fans were threatened with ICE if they were to attend his United States shows, leading him to not have any shows in the US, except the Super Bowl. On February 1, 2026, Bad Bunny became the first Spanish artist whose album is only in Spanish to win Album of the Year at the Grammys. He spoke out against ICE during his acceptance speech. Some fans of the NFL have claimed that they won’t watch the halftime show due to Bad Bunny being the performer– or even that they won’t watch the Super Bowl at all– claiming they don’t want to support an “non-American artist” (even though Bad Bunny is a US citizen). However, multiple non-American artists have performed at the Super Bowl, including The Rolling Stones, Sharika and Coldplay. Bad Bunny is a US citizen and is being criticized because his songs are in Spanish.Â
People hoped that Bad Bunny would either back out of performing or that the NFL would rescind their offer to him. Instead, the NFL announced Green Day to be the Opening Ceremony performance. Green Day famously sings “American Idiot,” where they have changed a certain lyric to sing “don’t want to be a part of a MAGA agenda.” Main singer Billie Joe Armstrong has openly criticized Trump. Their announcement hasn’t faced as much backlash, but it definitely demonstrates the possible switch of the political views of the NFL.
Even though the NFL is having these two artists perform during the 2026 Super Bowl during a time of protest and vitriol for the current administration, I it is important to acknowledge the right-wing actions they’ve displayed this year. After the death of Charlie Kirk, the NFL mandated a moment of silence in his honor during the Green Bay Packers and Washington Commanders game on Sept. 11, 2025. On the following Sunday, almost all of the other games played took a moment of silence, as well. However, when two Democratic leaders were shot and killed in their homes, the NFL didn’t hold any moment of silence. In contrast, when Colin Kaepernick knelt during the anthem for the injustice of police brutality against Black men, he was fined. This blatant right-wing agenda they exemplified in these two moments is insane and unacceptable.Â
As a fan of the game, I applaud the NFL for its current pick of performers for this year, but also condemn its past actions in the context of politics, such as the fines they gave out when players knelt during the National Anthem to protest. However, they also fined San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Nick Bosa for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat after a game. It seems that the NFL wants to remain apolitical, even though that isn’t truly possible in this day and age. However, I feel that this Super Bowl will be the most political one yet.