Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance reached audiences beyond U.S. borders by using language in a way that invited a broader reading of “America” than some listeners associated with the phrase as a reference to a single country. During the show, the Puerto Rican singer first said “God bless America” and then moved into naming countries throughout the hemisphere, turning what one audience interpreted as a bilingual wordplay into a message of inclusion, according to reactions described in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Latino communities in the United States.
In Mexico City, that halftime segment became the emotional pivot point for some viewers, who said the attention did not fade once the performance began. One fan watching at a packed bar described plates of American classics circulating among tables, but said the noise intensified when the show shifted focus to the stage. When Bad Bunny started listing countries of the Americas and reached “México,” the bar “estalló,” according to the account from the same location.
Laura Gilda Mejía, a 51-year-old primary school teacher and an NFL fan who was watching with her two children, said she found the moment striking because of what she viewed as political hostility toward Latinos in the United States. “Con todo lo que está pasando en Estados Unidos acerca de la política y que no quieren a los latinos… que llegue un latino a cantar en español en el espectáculo más grande del mundo fue increíble,” Mejía said, adding, “Me llenó de emoción.” Other people watching in Mexico, Puerto Rico and among Latino communities in the United States described the performance as more than entertainment—an instance of a Spanish-language artist dominating a mainstream U.S. pop platform without needing to translate himself for acceptance.
Supporters of that view also tied the impact to a linguistic difference. They said that in Spanish, “América” is commonly understood as the whole hemisphere rather than only one country, and that Bad Bunny’s sequence of mentions made that distinction resonate with viewers watching from abroad. Mexico also watched closely because the league has deep international ties: the NFL has a large Mexican fan base, including regular-season games in Mexico, and the Super Bowl has become a social event that draws attention as much to the halftime show and commercials as to the game itself.
Not all reactions in Mexico were uniformly celebratory, however. José Manuel Valenzuela, a researcher in cultural studies at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana, said that the sense of cultural value flowing only from the United States reflects a “colonizada” perspective shaped by history, power and media. He said the moment was real but did not erase deeper inequalities that make such cultural turning points feel novel in the first place.
In Puerto Rico, the Super Bowl served as a preamble to gatherings centered on the halftime segment, with attention concentrated on Bad Bunny’s 13-minute appearance. Alexandra Núñez, a resident of Caguas south of San Juan, wore clothing in the colors of Puerto Rico’s flag and observed the broadcast with a traditional “pava,” a straw hat. “Esto es un logro,” Núñez said. “Bad Bunny está demostrando que la música no tiene barreras. El idioma no tiene barreras,” she added, describing the performance as something “mundial” and “global.”
Núñez also said the performance marked a difference between Bad Bunny and other Latin stars who, in her view, had to adapt their sound or language to reach American audiences. She said Ricky Martin’s success reflected crossing into a market, while Bad Bunny, “literal[mente] cogió lo que ya existía y lo llevó al otro lado,” and that it was “ellos” who accepted what Puerto Ricans already had rather than requiring Latinos to change themselves for it to be heard.
In the United States, the reaction unfolded in a different political atmosphere. The performances and associated celebrations were described as occurring amid heightened immigration law enforcement and protests over raids and deportations, factors that shaped how some Latinos interpreted the show. Carlos Benítez, a 29-year-old who grew up in Miami and now works in New York, described Bad Bunny’s performance as a “logro” and said earlier major artists often felt pressure to sing in English to reach the highest levels. He argued that Bad Bunny went further by insisting on singing in Spanish and accepting that some people would understand it and others would not.
Benítez also said visibility would not automatically produce immediate policy or social change. “No es un cambio directo,” he said, adding that he did not see a scenario in which an ICE agent watching the Super Bowl would trigger an instant shift in thinking. Other commentary from academics emphasized similar limits alongside the broader cultural message: Vanessa Díaz, a Loyola Marymount University associate professor of Chicano and Latino studies and co-author of “P FKN R: Bad Bunny y la música como un acto de resistencia,” said the performance reflected a wider change in what it means to belong in the U.S. mainstream—especially in a period when popular taste is no longer exclusively tied to English-language music or white audiences.
In Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum also pointed to a phrase shown during the performance—“Lo único más poderoso que el odio es el amor”—as reinforcing a message of unity. When the game resumed, the described emotions in Mexico City lingered, with Mejía saying the night did not settle the contradictions she sees between cultural celebration and discrimination. Still, she said the fact that it happened—and that it happened in Spanish—mattered.