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Sunday night’s Super Bowl halftime show was billed as a bold cultural moment, and Bad Bunny delivered a high-energy, all–Spanish set that leaned hard into Puerto Rican imagery and theatrical spectacle. He staged scenes from island life, brought out surprise guests, and committed to risky stunts that made for compelling television and, by the numbers, a massive streaming surge the next day.
For many of us who value the family-friendly tradition of America’s biggest night in sports, what played out felt like an intentional provocation rather than harmless entertainment. Watching a halftime built around sensual choreography, deliberate cross-cultural signaling, and lyrics most viewers did not understand left conservative commentators — including Jason Whitlock — openly disgusted and calling the spectacle one of the worst halftime shows in memory.
This wasn’t an accident of taste; it was predictably political. Bad Bunny’s recent public posture — from Grammy-stage comments about ICE to promises to “bring my culture” to the Super Bowl — made it plain the halftime slot was being used to broadcast an ideological message to 100+ million viewers, and many Americans saw that as a slap in the face to the unifying tradition the Super Bowl once represented.
The backlash didn’t just stay on social media — it produced a real-world alternative. Conservative groups organized an “All-American” halftime counterprogram that pulled millions of viewers to a patriot-minded lineup, showing there is a market for traditional, family-centered entertainment and that activists on the right can still win hearts and audiences when they show up.
None of this negates the fact that the halftime spectacle moved streaming numbers and lit up charts — which only deepens the cultural debate. Big corporations and legacy media cheer when their chosen messaging succeeds, but that should not silence working Americans who believe national traditions should unite, not divide, and who expect halftime shows to avoid becoming platforms for partisan performance.
If conservatives want to stop losing cultural ground, we have to do more than tweet our outrage. We must build alternatives that celebrate faith, family, and the values that built this country, support creators who honor those values, and demand that national institutions like the NFL answer to the millions of Americans who want less virtue signaling and more entertainment that brings families together.
