Benito Bowl: Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Show (2026)
With sugar cane fields, jíbaros in pavas, a piragua stand, and viejitos playing dominos, Benito Ocasio Martinez, better known as Bad Bunny, grabbed the attention of viewers during his Super Bowl halftime performance.
“Titi Me Preguntó” opened his act, and opened the hips of everyone watching, at home and in the stands. Then, from the fields of Puerto Rico, the set transitioned into his iconic casita, the porch filled with the familiar faces of Pedro Pascal, Alix Earle, Jessica Alba, and Cardi B, alongside several other Latin American icons. While an all-female dance group showed us how to perrear on the lawn, Bad Bunny enchanted the Super Bowl crowd from on top of the roof–before dropping through the roof of lacasita and reemerging to the instantly recognizable synth of “EoO,” a sound many associate with his viral Calvin Klein campaign. He spun his ass in a circle, confidently blurring masculinity and femininity and capturing the attention and hearts of those watching.
Though some football fans questioned his selection for the halftime stage, suggesting the moment called for something more “traditional,” Bad Bunny answered, but not without compromise. The surprise appearance of Lady Gaga, who performed a reimagined “Die With a Smile” backed by a Latino instrumental band, bridged mainstream pop expectations with his cultural sound. On the other hand,Ricky Martin, singing against the Debí Tirar Más Fotos album-cover backdrop from a lawn chair, felt like Benito tipping his hat to the aunties watching at home, bringing out a heartthrob from their generation and turning the moment into a cross-generational celebration of Latin artistry on the same stage.
“God Bless America,” he shouted, beginning his walk to exit the stadium. He then recited every country in the Americas (North and South) by name, their respective flags carried behind him to the beat of bongos and tambourines. It was the perfect mixture of power and representation, enough to send chills down the spines of those watching at home. Then the waterworks began as the music switched to “DtMF.” Bouncing with a smile on his face, “Debí tirar más fotos / de cuando te tuve / Debí darte más besos y abrazos las veces que pude / Ojalá que los míos nunca se muden” (“I should have taken more photos / of when I had you / I should have given you more hugs and kisses the times I could have / I hope mine never move”) played as Benito hugged his companions and took in his moment. The jumbotron behind him read, “THE ONLY THING MORE POWERFUL THAN HATE IS LOVE,” the same quote he had recited during his Grammy acceptance speech days before, when he won Album of the Year.
With the highest-viewed Super Bowl halftime show in history, Benito used his record-breaking audience not just to entertain, but to affirm. On a stage watched by millions, he chose to center Latino culture, unity, and love at a time when Latino communities face unethical deportation practices and are denied due process, their families ripped apart as political leaders alienate their own neighbors. Rather than shrink himself for broader approval, he amplified his roots, turning the performance into a declaration that his culture is not only visible and united but still powerful and joyful despite people trying to make it less than.
