NPR called it “wholesome.” They called it “joyful.” They called it “unifying.” Really? Did we all watch the same Super Bowl Halftime Show?
On Monday’s It’s Been a Minute, NPR’s Brittany Luse and her guests positively gushed over Bad Bunny’s Spanish-only spectacle, calling it “one of the all-time great” performances. They spoke about colonialism, “joy as resistance,” and “reframing what America means.” Their panel joked about emojis, cried about Puerto Rican pride, and praised the scene of two men dancing together as “beautiful.” NPR went so far as to say the show was “inoffensive” and patriotic. But let’s hit pause, if you didn’t watch, you might think these radio hosts were telling it like it is and only “maga” racists, rubes and bigots had an issue with a “brown man” speaking another language for the halftime show.” But what’s the reality? What exactly did NFL viewers see and hear that night?
Llamar a Bad Bunny “representación latina” es un insulto. Reducir La cultura hispana a exceso sexual, baile vulgar y provocación borra la fe, la familia y la disciplina. Merecemos algo mejor que ser retratados a través de la degeneración para subir audiencia.
— Sara Huff (@TheSaraHuff) February 10, 2026
For those that are fluent in Spanish, it was immediatelyrecognized that Bad Bunny’s show was not some innocent cultural celebration. It was a sexualized, profanity-laced performance that slipped past English-only audiences because the lyrics weren’t in English. While NPR hosts saw international flags, diversity, and unity, Spanish speakers heard lyrics about sex acts, drug use, and even a distorted audience chant finishing a vulgar line that began, “If your boyfriend doesn’t…” The crowd and on-screen graphics filled in the rest (“eat ass”). This was broadcast on live television, during one of the biggest family-friendly events in American sports.
I have converted the SUPER BOWL song to English for the @nflcommish and the parents
Enjoy pic.twitter.com/DjKaP277sI
— 0HOUR1 (@0hour1) February 9, 2026
And yet, NPR blithly insists it was wholesome. They said the performance made them feel patriotic, but patriotic toward what, exactly? The slogan “Together we are America” flashed across the stadium, redefining “America” not as a country, but as a hemisphere. Is this really about unity, or about erasing borders entirely? Perhaps that’s the new message: love knows no nations, and national identity is an outdated concept. But when entertainment conglomorates start preaching politics, viewers should have every right to ask who is writing the sermon.
NPR panelist Stephen Thompson even mocked the Turning Point USA “All-American Halftime Show” with Kid Rock as some “culture-war” overreaction. He bragged that Bad Bunny’s act proved critics wrong by being so “inoffensive” and “unifying” as if crude lyrics and blurred sex chants are the new family standard. I’ve never been more thankful that Congress approved cuts to NPR’s funding last year, stripping away over $1 billion in taxpayer dollars from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Here’s the role model kids will find when they Google “Bad Bunny”. Hope they don’t discover the unfiltered lyrics their parents were cheering on.The truth is that despite the soft-spoken hosts and claims of neutrality, NPR is hard left politically. Of course they will shower praise on a committed left-wing activist with a long track record of anti-Trump rants and radical politics, not to mention pushing hyper-feminization on men. He backed Black Lives Matter, endorsed Kamala Harris, bashes ICE over deportations, and even flashes his “F**k Trump” shirt at concerts, all while pushing Puerto Rican independence and railing against U.S. “colonialism.” That is all in line with NPR’s brand. They certainly weren’t alone either. The always reliably left-wing Washington Post was also celebrating the “wholesome” nature of the show in its op ed on Monday after the Super Bowl.
The fact is that Bad Bunny’s halftime medley featured mostly altered, but still obscene, lyrics. Songs like “Tití Me Preguntó,” “Safaera,” and “Yo Perreo Sola” which carried explicit lines only blurred by network audio, while suggestive imagery and terms still appeared on the LED screens behind him. The rapper even changed one lyric from “she fucks in Audis not Hondas” to “she bounces in Audis,” as if a word swap makes it more wholesome. Other lines about drugs and sex were broadcast into millions of American homes while commentators at NPR called it “joyful resistance.”
BREAKING – A man is going viral after translating the song Bad Bunny performed during the halftime show, and however bad you think it sounds in Spanish, just wait until you hear the lyrics in English. pic.twitter.com/Nnm1wLKaJO
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) February 9, 2026
Ricky Martin joined the act to perform “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii,” a political song rejecting Puerto Rican statehood and accusing outsiders of stealing the island. The lyrics said, “They want to take the river from me and the beach, too.” What exactly does that have to do with football, or family entertainment? Even so, NPR panelists praised it as “powerful” and “decolonizing.” These ladies seem to only see divisive politics as art, while ordinary viewers saw it as ideology replacing showmanship. Even Puerto Ricans don’t agree with the message, with some telling mainstream media “saying Bad Bunny represents “Latin” culture is like saying Pizza Hut represents Italian cuisine.”
Several Spanish speakers have now told me that his lyrics were just as vulgar on the live show as they are in the original songs. If that’s true, it’s absolutely horrendous and inexcusable that this would be broadcast. And it makes some of the visuals that were intended to be… https://t.co/qV0H2g1io0
— Alisa Childers (@alisa_childers) February 9, 2026
Les hago un favor a todos los que tienen la inteligencia emocional de un niño de kinder y no saben articular una opinion sin sentirse atacados. Pueden decir: “es muy deficiente como artista, pero aprovechó el Super Bowl y la situación política muy bien. Además, a mí me gusta.”
— Fernando Canek (@FernandoCanek) February 9, 2026
Bad Bunny censored the word “guns” from his song “Eoo”—but left in vulgar references to drugs and sex. Guns are off-limits, but public indecency is progressive? The NFL seems fine with it, and NPR calls it “radical joy.” Is that what American culture has become in the year it celebrates its 250th, where decency is outdated, and political messaging is worshipped as bravery?
Across the broadcast, commentators tied the performance to “Latino empowerment” and “anti-colonial” pride. But unity built on explicit lyrics and anti-American undertones isn’t real unity, especially when 300 million viewers can’t even understand the language it’s being performed in. When the biggest game in U.S. sports becomes a platform for rewriting what “America” means, maybe it’s time to ask: Who’s actually redefining it—and why?
NPR wants to call this a love story. But for countless families watching with their kids, it looked more like a cultural revolution playing out on the fifty-yard line. At some point, Americans have to choose: do we keep pretending this is “wholesome,” or do we call it what it is—an obscene halftime message dressed up as progress?
English (US) · 