Halftime Halfwits

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | Oct. 25, 2025

Some of you might remember when there were two competing professional football leagues, the National Football League (NFL), which had been around since its founding in Canton, Ohio, in 1920, and the upstart American Football League (AFL) which started playing in 1960. The leagues technically merged in 1966 but continued playing completely separate schedules until 1970.

It was inevitable both league’s champions would play each other, the AFL insisting. So the first of what we now call the Super Bowl games was played in January of 1967. It was then called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, and the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs. The game was first officially called the Super Bowl in 1969.

All of which leads us to Super Bowl halftime shows and this year’s artificially manufactured controversy. We now have a cottage industry of people who are offended or somehow upset by almost everything, including halftime entertainment at the next Super Bowl.

(There was no such controversy at that first game. Halftime entertainment included a jet pack demonstration, a balloon and pigeon release, and performances by trumpeter Al Hirt and the marching bands of the University of Arizona and Grambling State University. There is no record of anyone complaining.)

The main halftime entertainment for Super Bowl LX will be Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio. Some might know him better as Bad Bunny, a nickname he was given when he was a child due to his making a sullen face while wearing a bunny costume. Bad Bunny was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, sings in Spanish to honor his heritage, and does not tour in the continental United States. His selection resulted in howls of protest and complaints, with some halfwits even wondering aloud why they couldn’t have chosen an American.

Well, of course, they did. Anyone born in Puerto Rico is an American citizen with most of the rights and privileges of the rest of us. They pay Social Security/Medicare taxes and can collect Social Security upon retirement (but they are not eligible for Supplemental Security Income or SSI), can vote in presidential primary elections, but if living on the island, they cannot vote in presidential general elections. They do not have a representative in Congress but instead have a non-voting Resident Commissioner. Puerto Ricans have twice voted to become the 51st state, most recently with a stunning 97 percent of the vote, but such action requires Congressional approval that has not been forthcoming.

So Bad Bunny and other Puerto Ricans are American citizens, not that citizenship is a requirement for Super Bowl halftime entertainers. We’ve had non-citizens Shakira, The Weeknd, Rihanna, Paul McCartney, Sting, Coldplay, Shania Twain, Phil Collins, U2, and the Rolling Stones representing Colombia, Canada, the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. (Interestingly, few complaints were heard when Shakira and Jennifer Lopez both sang songs in Spanish during their halftime performance.)

It’s not as if Bad Bunny offers up women-hating or profane rap that offends. Some politicians claim “nobody” has ever heard of him and he should be replaced. Actually, lots of people have heard of him.

According to ChartMasters, Bad Bunny has sold just under 112 million records worldwide. He has won three Grammy Awards, 11 Latin Grammy Awards, and he has multiple platinum albums and platinum singles, selling at least a million units of each. He also has a certified Diamond album with 10 million units sold. He has had several singles reach the Billboard Hot 100, multiple albums that have made it to number one on the Billboard 200, and in 2022 he became the first artist recording in Spanish to be Billboard’s Artist of the Year.

Not bad for an “unknown.”

Stephen Miller, President Trump’s very own prince of darkness, says if Bad Bunny is the halftime talent, then ICE officers will be at the game. Why? Any of Bad Bunny’s Puerto Rican fans are American citizens, and not many criminal non-citizens will be able to afford to attend the over-priced extravaganza. (We’re still just arresting criminal illegal immigrants, right? Those reports of 170 American citizens and more than 100 children being rounded up and detained surely can’t be right…)

Here’s a friendly suggestion: Stop whining about the halftime show just because the guy sings in Spanish—it makes you sound like racist dolts. If you are so offended, then at halftime take a walk, have a conversation, eat a snack, or go online to one of the many channels that will play music you enjoy, but stop making up reasons to complain.

The we-must-end-cancel-culture crowd in Washington was mighty quick to try to cancel Bad Bunny. The overly long halftime show will drone on as it always has, and those now complaining the loudest will bitch and moan when it’s over, claiming it was the worst ever. Then they’ll do it again next year.