NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that he expects Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl slot will “unite” the country and “bring people together”.
The championship game of the 2025 NFL season will be played tonight (February 8) between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
With Bad Bunny headlining the halftime show, the event is set to draw millions of viewers across the globe. It will also make him not only the first male solo Latin artist to perform at the halftime slot, but also the first person to perform their set entirely in Spanish.
As such, he’s come under relentless attack from the MAGA movement since being announced as the halftime show headliner, with Donald Trump calling the decision “crazy” and claiming that he had “never heard of” the rapper.
Ahead of tonight’s show, Goodell seemingly referenced this criticism and defended the ‘NUEVAYoL‘ artist, who he said was “one of the great artists in the world”, adding that it was “one of the reasons we chose him”, per Deseret.
“But the other reason is he understood the platform he was on,” he continued. “And that this platform is used to unite people, and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, with their talents, and to be able to use this moment to do that.
“And I think artists in the past have done that. I think Bad Bunny understands that, and I think he’ll have a great performance.”
Last week (February 1), Bad Bunny picked up Album of the Year at the Grammys and delivered a fiery speech directed at ICE. “We are not savage, we are not animals, we are not aliens, we are humans and we are Americans,” he said.
“Also, I want to say to people, I know it’s tough to know not to hate these days, and I was thinking, sometimes we get [contaminated]. The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing more powerful than hate is love. So, we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them, we love our people, we love our family. That’s the way to do it. We love.”
It came after one of the President’s advisors confirmed that ICE would be present at the performance, which followed Bad Bunny’s announcement that he would not be touring the US during his current world tour due to fears over ICE agents raiding the concerts.
In separate comments given to the Daily Mail, Goodell also suggested the politicised commentary would not overshadow the Super Bowl.
When asked by the publication if he was frustrated that ICE was dominating coverage in the build-up to tonight’s game, he said: “I don’t think that’s true… I think the media is [talking about it]. I don’t think anyone else is.”
Bad Bunny has promised that “the world will dance” during his halftime show, which will air at the same time as an ‘All American Halftime Show’ headlined by Kid Rock, and put on by Turning Point USA – which was founded by the late Charlie Kirk.
Before kickoff tonight, Charlie Puth will sing the national anthem and Brandi Carlile will perform ‘America The Beautiful’.
Green Day will also be playing at the opening ceremony before the game, in a homecoming show in the Bay Area for the band. They are scheduled to perform a medley of their best-known songs as past Super Bowl MVPs parade on the field.
Visit here for more details on how to watch the halftime performance.
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English (US) · 