Bad Bunny became the first musician to perform entirely in Spanish at a Super Bowl halftime show, delivering a 14-minute celebration of Puerto Rican culture that featured Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, though President Donald Trump later called the performance “absolutely terrible” on social media.
The 31-year-old, who was the world’s most-played artist in 2025 according to Spotify, used the performance at Levi’s Stadium as a love letter to his native Puerto Rico. The set included guest performances from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, along with cameos from Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, Karol G and Jessica Alba, who danced on the porch of his famous casita, a staple of his shows designed to look like a traditional Puerto Rican home.
Bad Bunny, real name Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, chose to say one line in English: “God bless America,” before listing nations of Central, South and North America as dancers carried their flags. Behind them, a billboard message read “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” and he held a football bearing the slogan “Together, We Are America.” However, he did not make any explicit political statements against the current U.S. administration during his performance.
President Trump, who did not attend the Super Bowl, called Bad Bunny’s set “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” on Truth Social. He added that it was “an affront to the Greatness of America” and “nobody understands a word this guy is saying.” An alternative event, the All-American Halftime Show organized by Turning Point USA, was headlined by Trump-supporting singer Kid Rock.
Puerto Rico was at the heart of everything in the performance, from his emergence from a sugarcane field to a set representing the sounds and sights of the island. Transporting himself through a Latin landscape with set pieces including a nail salon and a bar, Bad Bunny performed a medley of his biggest hits. Climbing an electricity pylon while rapping, he appeared to pay tribute to people who died in 2017’s Hurricane Maria. He wore a beige sweater emblazoned with the number 64, which could represent the official death toll that turned out to be significantly lower than the estimated thousands who died.
Lady Gaga brought a salsa-inspired rendition of her Bruno Mars collaboration “Die With A Smile,” and Ricky Martin sang “Lo Que Le Pasó A Hawaii,” a song warning Puerto Ricans not to allow their culture to be erased. Bad Bunny ended by shouting “God Bless America” and naming multiple countries and territories, including Puerto Rico and the U.S., with those two flags carried behind him side-by-side.
