On February 8, the star of the 60th Super Bowl Halftime Show held at Levi’s Stadium in the United States was pop star Bad Bunny. Nearing the end of his performance, he called out the names of Latin American countries one by one and then threw a football bearing the phrase ‘Together, We are America!’ toward the stands. Amid the growing spread of anti-immigrant deportation protests in the United States, Bad Bunny had already revealed a negative stance toward the immigrant crackdown policies. The message Bad Bunny delivered at a halftime show watched by over 100 million people invited controversy before it invited respect. This is an unfamiliar sight for America, a country that has long held up individual diversity in culture, religion, and the like as its national identity. Whereabouts does American pluralism stand right now?
The Super Bowl Halftime Show Split into Two Stages
American Latin pop star Bad Bunny was born and raised in Puerto Rico (an island northeast of the United States, a Spanish colony until the Spanish-American War). Recently, blackouts have been continuously occurring in Puerto Rico, but the United States has been ignoring the issue without making efforts to maintain the deteriorating power grid. Bad Bunny expressed his criticism of the U.S. government and the people’s desire to find a ray of hope through his performance. He performed most of his songs in Spanish, and near the end of his performance, the message ‘The only thing more powerful than hate is love’ appeared on the electronic display. It was also a message directed at the U.S. government’s policies seeking to exclude immigrants.
Regarding Bad Bunny’s performance, U.S. President Trump denounced it as “one of the worst performances in Super Bowl Halftime Show history.” After posting such criticism, around midnight, President Trump posted on social media a composite map image in which the North American continent — including Canada, the Danish territory of Greenland, and Venezuela — was covered with the Stars and Stripes. It was a gesture that seemed to counter Bad Bunny’s position hoping for respect for immigrants.
The conservative-leaning organization Turning Point USA, at the same time as the Super Bowl Halftime Show, separately hosted an ‘All-American Halftime Show’ on their YouTube channel, featuring singer Kid Rock, known as a Trump supporter. Some conservative viewers watched this show instead of the official halftime show.
[Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl © gettyimages/Esquire Korea]
Differing Stances on Immigrant Crackdown Policies
How did the Super Bowl Halftime Show, which has brought joy to the American people, become a venue for vilification of one another? Bad Bunny’s performance was not smooth sailing from the start. Even when Bad Bunny was confirmed as the invited artist for the halftime show, President Trump publicly expressed displeasure, calling it preposterous. At the Grammy Awards, Bad Bunny shouted “ICE OUT” during his Album of the Year acceptance speech — a comment squarely aimed at the Trump administration’s immigrant crackdown policies.
Not all artists share Bad Bunny’s stance on U.S. immigration policy. Last January, rapper Nicki Minaj, a Trinidad and Tobago-born immigrant who came to the U.S. at age five, appeared at the launch event for the Trump Account (a policy through which the government creates tax-free investment accounts for newborns born in the U.S. and supports them with an initial seed fund of USD 1,000), stating she was the President’s number one fan. Trump responded by calling Nicki Minaj “the greatest and most successful female rapper in history.” An interesting fact is that Nicki Minaj was someone who had criticized the government’s immigration enforcement policies in 2018 during Trump’s first term. While she had opposed immigration policies seven years ago, she now stands in support. This is a point that reveals the complex layers of the stances and debates surrounding U.S. immigration policy.
[Nicki Minaj and President Donald Trump © AP/Yonhap News]
Has American Pluralism Expanded or Fractured?
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show was watched by approximately 124.9 million people — the fourth-highest figure in history. A performance in which most songs were delivered solely in Spanish became one of the most-watched stages in history. Yet at the same time as the official Super Bowl Halftime Show was underway, another Super Bowl halftime performance rejecting this show was unfolding on YouTube. Immediately after the official Super Bowl Halftime Show, President Trump expressed his displeasure by posting an image of territorial expansion. Such scenes feel somewhat removed from the image of an America where diversity is respected. American pluralism is now undergoing expansion and fracturing simultaneously.
This phenomenon, in which sporting events have become a battleground for social messages, concisely shows what question American society now faces: whether the value of diversity is expanding toward a broader society, or whether it is becoming another name for division. America is still searching for an answer to that question.
by Editor N