02/10/2026
Bad Bunny Does Good: Lifts Up Latinos
By Luis Alfredo Vasquez-Ajmac
There are halftime shows that entertain, and there are halftime shows that mean something. What Bad Bunny delivered on the Super Bowl stage was huge lift for all US Latinos and Latin Americans.
On the most watched halftime in American television, Bad Bunny centered Puerto Rican and Latino culture, language, and community in an uplifting way. Spanish wasn’t an accessory. It was the heartbeat. For millions of Latinos in the United States, the nation’s largest minority group, Spanish matters.
Yet for many Latino kids growing up amid persistent racism, Spanish has also been something to hide or be embarrassed because it’s depicted as a second class language. Seeing it spoke, sung and danced to was validation it’s beauty and strong currency.
This wasn’t a performance built only around celebrities. It was built around community. A beloved local taqueria, Villa’s Tacos, appeared not as a prop, but as a symbol of Latino entrepreneurship and everyday excellence. A real pastor — not an actor — presided over a wedding. Real Latino families danced. A young boy portrayed a younger Bad Bunny, grounding the spectacle in lived experience. Even behind the scenes, Latino creative talent including designers with Dominican roots shaped what the world saw.
This is a great way to show cooperative economics in action. Cultural power used to circulate opportunity, visibility, and dignity back into the community it came from.
For Latinos who have felt sidelined, Bad Bunny offered a different vision of America: one that feels more real. When he closed by reminding viewers that “America” stretches from Canada through the Caribbean and down to South America, it wasn’t a geography lesson. It’s the truth. For Latinos, “America” has always been bigger than one border.
Predictably, there were critics. Some called the show “too Spanish,” others “un-American.” But that reaction only underscored the point. For a country that consumes Latino labor, food, music, and culture daily, the discomfort wasn’t about language it was about visibility. This show made Latino presence undeniable.
For 130 million viewers, this wasn’t just a halftime show. It was a mirror. For Latinos watching at home, especially for our young people, it said: your language is worthy, your culture is central, and your story belongs here.
Bad Bunny didn’t just perform.
He affirmed.
He redistributed attention.
He reminded America who it already is.
Que Viva Bad Bunny!
Bad Bunny performs at the secondary stage dubbed "La Casita," REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
