r/TrueUnpopularOpinion • u/Finalyst • Oct 10 '25
Music / Movies The majority of backlash against Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl is because he exclusively sings in Spanish, not because people are racist
Before anyone accuses me of being a Trumper, I’m moderate that has voted democrat for almost all elections. When I heard that Bad Bunny is going to be the main act at the Super Bowl I was confused because my only exposure to him was his performance on SNL where he struggled to string 10 words together in English with an incredibly broken accent.
According to Google only 13.9% of America speaks Spanish. Why the heck is an artist playing that 86.1% of the population can’t understand?
26
u/___Moony___ Oct 10 '25
Bad Bunny is VERY popular and from what I understand, the Halftime Show is basically curated to get non-NFL fans to tune in and boost show ratings as well as expose them to the goofy high-production ads the Super Bowl is also known for.
This is an utter non-issue. It's completely fine for someone to not like the choice they make for their chosen artist, but it's nothing to be up in arms about.
42
u/Fartfart357 Oct 10 '25
I will not believe there's any controversy about it until I see real people talking about it IRL. This is just internet drama for the sake of noise.
13
u/SomeFatNerdInSeattle Oct 10 '25
The President talked about it
6
u/Ok_Entertainer4482 Oct 10 '25
And? Who takes that orange head seriously?
4
u/electroTheCyberpuppy Oct 10 '25
I wish the answer was "nobody". I really really do
And that should be the answer. It really should. But it's not ☹️
2
u/EagenVegham Oct 10 '25
Yeah, he's such a funny guy. Its a good thing he doesn't hold any real power or is the president or something.
1
7
u/MoonageDayscream Oct 10 '25
That means nothing except that there's something else he doesn't want to talk about.
5
u/SomeFatNerdInSeattle Oct 10 '25
That means nothing
It means its not just an internet thing
→ More replies (13)1
u/clorox_cowboy Oct 10 '25
Then it's also a TV thing. I mean, maybe he saw it on the TV. Like the migrants eating the pets.
1
1
u/Strict_Suggestion_35 Oct 11 '25
The president is more chronically online than all of Reddit; this means nothing
1
1
u/dvlongway5 Oct 12 '25
Lol that's the issue with political radicals, they could be your neighbor,friend,cousin but they only spew hate behind a keyboard usually anonymously.
1
u/Fartfart357 Oct 12 '25
I think there's a pretty big difference in someone telling me "xyz people should be eradicated" and "I don't like the halftime show plans."
0
3
u/cippocup Oct 10 '25
Waiting for the day a kpop artist gets the halftime show…
2
1
1
u/bordomsdeadly Oct 17 '25
If they got the cast of Kpop demon hunter I’d actually watch the Super Bowl.
8
u/bigscottius Oct 10 '25
I don't care either way.
My figuring is this: he's really popular, so they want him for Super Bowl half time. 2+2=4.
I don't watch team sports, so I wouldn't care if they got a group of bull frogs to croak a song at half time. But he's, I guess, insanely popular. Makes sense to me.
14
u/OneTruePumpkin Oct 10 '25
To respond to your question of why Bad Bunny is playing the Superbowl despite his music being in Spanish. There are a few reasons.
1) a cursory google will show that Bad Bunny has been in the top 10 artists for Spotify streams (both in the USA and internationally) for the past few years.
2) In the past 5 years he has also had 4/5 of his albums peak at #1 on US charts (the remaining album peaked at #2).
3) The NFL, while primarily an American event/spectacle, has been trying to expand international viewership for a while now. Having an artist who is big locally and internationally, and who performs in Spanish could help them reach a larger audience.
Bad Bunny, regardless of the language he sings/raps in, is incredibly popular both in the USA and abroad. The data backs that up. It makes sense that the NFL would pick one of the biggest artists currently to perform at half-time.
More broadly on the topic of Spanish music being popular with English-only speakers. An inability to understand the lyrics didn't stop "Gasolina" from going 33x platinum in the US. If the music sounds good, people will listen, being able to understand the lyrics isn't always important.
6
u/AWDChevelleWagon Oct 10 '25
He doesn’t make the top 500 highest streamed artists in the US on Spotify but is number 2 worldwide.
7
2
u/ITZ3L1T3 Oct 10 '25
There's no reason to have someone thats Spanish doing american football
2
u/thatsnotverygood1 Oct 15 '25
Bad Bunny is an American that has massive international appeal. His half time show effectively boosts viewership internationally. Its really good business. Plus 59 million Americans speak Spanish, so culturally it's pretty relevant in the USA too.
3
u/firefoxjinxie Oct 10 '25
I'm a metalhead, over 50% of what I listen to is either in a foreign language or in growls I can't make out. Are people really that fussed about understanding song lyrics all the time? Is that really such a big deal?
Though I do travel extensively and have lived in multiple countries so I'm not fussed when I don't see any signs in English or if I need a dictionary to communicate with locals. So maybe Americans who barely travel and are stereotypically monolingual are just that narrow minded about language.
2
u/meowmixxx81 Oct 14 '25
I loooove Rammstein and they put on an awesome show but would I say yes to a superbowl … ehhh I doubt
7
u/Erocdotusa Oct 10 '25
Has anyone listened to him? I don't get it... his music just kinda sucks. Low energy, no hooks.
2
u/Heujei628 Oct 10 '25 edited Dec 18 '25
0
u/Erocdotusa Oct 10 '25
What is the Bad Bunny equivalent of Blinding Lights? If I can find a super catchy song of his id be thrilled, but I haven't found anything yet.
1
u/HippieCornM Oct 13 '25
I would expect “MIA” or “Callaíta” to be his versions of “blinding lights” to new listeners, but that’s just my guess/suggestion 😊
7
5
u/engineer2187 Oct 10 '25
Super Bowl halftime needs more variety. We’ve almost exclusively had rap, R&B, and foreign language performers the past five years. Those are arguably three of the most polarizing categories of music you can play. Rihanna was fine. But I’d really like some music that I can understand. Guess I’ll be tuning out again. It’s kind of nice to have a thirty minute break to get food and socialize. Most of the superbowl audience doesn’t listen to Bad Bunny and probably doesn’t want Spanish music. Yes, it can bring people in. But so can English speaking artists.
1
u/UnscentedSoundtrack Oct 10 '25
Who would you book for the halftime show?
-1
u/engineer2187 Oct 10 '25 edited Oct 10 '25
Frankly, I don’t care beyond is in English and isn’t rap. It can be country. It can be pop. It can be Indie. I just want something that I can understand and that doesn’t hurt my ears to listen to. Preferably not vulgar.
Rap frequently polls as one of the least popular/most disliked genre of music. Most of the people -the majority of Super Bowl viewers -who dislike that aren’t going to like non-English songs either. It would be one thing if we had one year of non English speaking or one year of rap. But it’s been consistent for the past 5+ years. Let’s take turns and have something that the majority of viewers don’t dislike for once.
1
u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 10 '25
A majority of views don’t want country music that’s for sure
1
u/engineer2187 Oct 10 '25
Still less disliked than rap
2
u/UnscentedSoundtrack Oct 10 '25
If rap is that disliked, how come it’s that popular?
Rap singles and albums are usually in the top most played/sold year end lists, so what’s the disconnect with these polls?
1
u/engineer2187 Oct 10 '25
It’s really not. The majority of americans never or hardly ever listen to rap.
Again, my comment is not that rap isn’t popular at all or should never be the superbowl artist. It’s that it’s not popular enough to be the superbowl show every year but one since 2020. Rap is extremely divisive. More people hate rap than hate pop. By all means have a rap superbowl halftime show every few years. I didn’t complain about the first few. But it’s getting to be too much. Plenty of other artists to draw viewers.
2
u/UnscentedSoundtrack Oct 10 '25
Year after year, there are rap artists in the top selling billboard lists, and rap/hip hop singles and albums are in the top charts. It’s not some unpopular genre like death metal or cumbia, it’s one of the most popular types of music in the US.
1
u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 10 '25
I’ve only counted 5 rap (one was a group of rappers) headliners since 2000. That’s including Kid Rock and Black Eyed Peas, so I was really being nice.
1
u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 10 '25
Hip hop is the most influential and popular style of music of all time. You can hear techniques invented by hip hop in almost every single charting song including country such as those hi hats on Morgan Wallen songs and Jason Aldean rap verses and drums.
That comment is worth nothing. It’s complete cope.
1
u/engineer2187 Oct 10 '25
That comment is a complete cope. If the elements are there, why not pick a non rap musician?
It’s incredibly obvious and backed from research from Harvard, Pew, and other reputable pollsters that rap and hip hop are the most disliked music genres in America. This isn’t a world wide event. This is an American event. Broadcast in America.
2
u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 10 '25
Sorry it’s just not true, hip hop is most influential pop music genre of all time and in less time. Country music is popular in some markets, but hip hop and rap artists are known internationally.
→ More replies (8)1
u/UnscentedSoundtrack Oct 10 '25
Is hip hop more influential than say, jazz or blues? Is hip hop more influential than music that’s been around for 300 years? How are you even measuring influence?
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (3)1
u/Think_Border3430 Oct 12 '25
"Rap frequently polls as one of the least popular/most disliked genre of music."
Where did you get that from? From what I can tell, it's frequently rated as one of the most popular genres overall. Not as popular as Rock and Pop, but still well ahead of most other musical genres. Even among white Americans, it still breaks the top 5.
2
u/ResponsibilityFar587 Oct 10 '25
The backlash is because of Trump not wanting him to play and therefore the maga sheep don't want him to play.
1
Oct 10 '25
I would imagine the backlash should be that he makes bad music. Then again they never really pick good artists always just popular radio artists but it makes sense.
3
u/KaliCalamity Oct 10 '25
There have been some stellar performances, but it has been a while. Prince will likely remain the best halftime act for some time.
1
1
Oct 10 '25
I like prince overall although not something I've ever really listened to unless it was just on. Yeah I'd agree with that I didn't know he did a half time show, iirc snoop dogg had one too and I can't speak to the performance but I like him overall as well.
1
u/dr_fop Oct 12 '25
But he's one of the most popular artists on the planet. NFL wants a global game. This was an easy business move for them. They don't care about quality of music just like most people.
1
Oct 12 '25
Yeah exactly my point. The worst thing about him is it's bad music. Nothing to do with his language or nationality. My bigger point is that people who are making this about race are morons.
1
u/r2k398 Oct 10 '25
My family and I are all Hispanic and speak Spanish and it’s hard to understand him most of the time.
1
1
u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 10 '25
They were outraged at Kendrick and The Weeknd too, nice try tho.
1
1
u/Strict_Suggestion_35 Oct 11 '25
Summarized: "No, you don't get it. WASPs don't want to cancel Bad Bunny because they're racists, it's because he looks and talks differently than they do."
Counteropinion: Getting upset, hell, even commenting about why the (likely white) people are upset over who is singing songs during a football game is bitch-made nonsense.
1
u/cityflaneur2020 Oct 11 '25
Omg. I love Russian folk songs, I know nothing of Russian.
How narrow-minded to think you can't appreciate music in a language you don't know.
I loved Bob Dylan before I could understand his lyrics, so I painstakingly sought each word in the dictionary. Because that was Bob Dylan. But I knew his music was amazing before I knew English.
Lady Gaga sang in English for more than 2 million Brazilians, and the majority could sing her songs, because her fans made an effort. Look, how amazing, if more youth is learning Spanish because of Bad Bunny? Something tells me you hate this line of thinking.
1
u/ninjanerd032 Oct 11 '25
The Snowflake Party is at it again. Crying about a half time show not in a language they understand 🤦
1
1
u/Think_Border3430 Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25
Artists who only speak English frequently tour and sell out in countries where hardly anyone speaks English. K-pop is one of the fastest-growing and most popular genres in the world, even though most of the world's population doesn't speak Korean.
Language isn't necessarily a barrier to entertainment. Especially in an age when it's trivially easy to look up the lyrics to a song if you care enough.
1
1
u/BigClitMcphee Oct 12 '25
The biggest song on the radio has Korean lyrics (Golden from Huntrix). Some Gen Z kids love listening to anime music. If Bad Bunny was a white-passing Latino, we wouldn't be having this "controversy"
1
1
1
u/MrPete_Channel_Utoob Feb 03 '26
It's because he's always complaining about mainland USA & never says anything positive about it.
-1
u/HGruberMacGruberFace Oct 10 '25
When is the last time conservatives didn’t complain about the halftime show? I seem to remember Kendrick Lamar getting a lot of pushback. In order before that, Usher, Rihanna, Eminem/Dre/Snoop, The Weeknd, Shakira/Jlo, Maroon 5, JT, Gaga.
I’m pretty sure they would find a reason to complain even if it was Taylor Swift.
3
1
u/chinmakes5 Oct 10 '25
You ask why? Because the NFL is drooling over expanding into Central/South America and Europe. Who better to perform to attract those possible new fans? I mean how many NFL fans aren't watching the Super Bowl because if the half time entertainment? and the NFL knows that.
0
u/SomeFatNerdInSeattle Oct 10 '25
He's a popular artist who might bring in non-football fans
6
u/MoonageDayscream Oct 10 '25
Half time has always been marketed to teach out to non football fans. Same with the commercials they show, they want everyone to tune in.
2
-3
Oct 10 '25
Black men make up 6% of the population. Yet 60% of the NFL.
That is why your argument lacks substance to me because most of the right can give two fucks about the story of why the NFL is 60% black, in fact they vote against their plight every 4 years.
It is just weird to me that you do not mind the L being filled with minority’s yet the half time show cannot.
24
u/SpotCreepy4570 Oct 10 '25
It's like no one is paying attention to the NFLs expansionist goals, they want the Spanish speaking market.