Bad Bunny’s halftime show echoed peace and unity messages of old
As the Vietnam War raged in October 1967, one of more than 70,000 protesters at the March on the Pentagon was photographed sticking flowers into the barrels of rifles held by MPs.
Whether the “flower power” movement of the day had much to do with the end of U.S. involvement in the war five and a half years later is a matter of debate. But it was one of countless many peaceful – and sometimes not so peaceful – efforts that surely helped to turn the tide against the gruesome and ultimately failed U.S. disaster in that country.
It was a bold and gentle effort – reminiscent of the pacifism of Mahatma Gandhi, the Rev. Martin Luther King and others – aimed at the conscience of a nation, if not at the hardened hearts of its leaders.
Bad Bunny’s remarkable performance at the Super Bowl was in line with that sensibility. His performance, a joyful celebration of the richness and liveliness of Latin culture, was a flower stuck in the eye of Donald J. Trump and other racists who denigrate, torment and deport Black and Brown Americans and immigrants with an anger and viciousness rarely seen in recent history.
Matching the gesture of that Pentagon protester, the Puerto Rican rapper properly known as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio showcased his message on the billboard above Levi’s Stadium, “The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate is Love.” The sentiment echoed King’s comments: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that” and “I have decided to stick with love … hate is too great a burden to bear” and Gandhi’s “Hatred can be overcome only by love.”
Suited to the event, Bad Bunny led a group of performers carrying the flags from countries across the Americas and the Caribbean. He shouted out “God Bless America, and recited a long list of the nations, at least 23 of them that make up the Americas and the wider region. As a writer for CNN noted, “Bad Bunny declared himself an American patriot in the broadest sense of the term.”
It was an ecstatic performance that even drew praise from Tom Brady, the former New England Patriots quarterback and Trump supporter. Brady exclaimed on social media: “Amazing!!!!!!!!!.”
What a far cry from Trump’s reaction.
The president, who had groused about Bad Bunny before the show, declared on his Truth Social site afterwards that “It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence,” Ranting, he complained that “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying,” and called the halftime show “a slap in the face to our country.” Trump said there was “nothing inspirational” about the show, and that it would still get rave reviews from “the Fake News Media, because they haven’t got a clue of what is going on in the REAL WORLD.”
As an Esquire writer noted: “Much like most of the President’s rambling screeds on social media, it’s a saddening—yet unsurprising—take to stomach. The guy can’t even appreciate a wedding on live TV just because Bad Bunny criticized ICE at the Grammys. And if you speak another language in this country, then that apparently makes you un-American now, too. Forget the fact that the “REAL WORLD,” according to the United States Census Bureau’s 2019 report, states that more than half (55 percent) of the Spanish speakers in this country (over 40 million people, by the way) were U.S.-born Americans citizens.”
Bad Bunny drove home his core message at the end, as a writer for The Atlantic noted. “Pushing toward the camera with throngs of drummers, he closed by holding up a football with a message on it: Together, We Are America. It was a pointed message but also a conciliatory one, a unity slogan.”
Make no mistake, though. Bad Bunny’s performance was a political statement aimed at Trump and other nativist philistines who would turn back the clock on the appeal of the United States to other Americans – broadly defined. That he sang in Spanish at the nation’s preeminent sporting event made it clear that the country is richer and more diverse than the whites-only population that Trump would prefer. “We’re still here,” the rapper sang.
And Trumpists felt stung. “Bad Bunny is absolutely vile. I can’t understand a word of it but I just know it’s foul, vulgar, and demonic. Cover your kids’ ears. The NFL owes millions of Americans an apology,” one wrote on X. Another chimed in: “If we can learn anything from Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance, it’s that we should be deporting even more people.”
Of course, they watched, though.
They seem not to have been among Trumpists who jumped to Kid Rock’s streamed alternative halftime show. Recall that the classic Kid Rock tune “Cool, Daddy Cool,” includes the Epstein-esque lyrics: “Young ladies, young ladies, I like ‘em underage/See some say that’s statutory …” The clownish Rock’s show drew about 6 million viewers, a minuscule fraction of the more than 130 million thought to have been drawn to Bad Bunny.
Will Bad Bunny’s positive Gandhi-esque message resound as immigration and Border Patrol agents prowl the nation, rounding up countless innocents who look a lot like the people in the halftime show? Certainly, attempts to prick the conscience of the heartless and soulless likely will fail. Trump is evidence of that.
But, for the rest of America, the chance to heed the singer’s message looms near. Elections in November will give us the first signs of whether this updated version of “flower power” can have an effect, assuming that the Trumpists don’t corrupt the voting. And then there will be November 2028, far off as that seems.
In time, Americans with hearts, brains and consciences will get the chance to respond both to Trump and Bad Bunny.