When Culture Meets Politics: Bad Bunny Forces Conversation About Who Gets To Be Considered ‘American’ 

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Vassar chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Amid countless ICE raids and calls to deport US immigrants, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny has been announced as the performer for this year’s Super Bowl Halftime show. Many MAGA supporters, as well as Trump himself, are furious.

Much of this debate revolves around the unfounded belief that Puerto Rico isn’t a part of the United States, when it’s in fact a US territory, making all residents US citizens. This misconception recently went viral on a CNN interview between Tomi Lahren and Krystal Ball: 

Lahren: Do you think Bad Bunny is a good choice for the Super Bowl?

Ball: I don’t know why it’s a big deal. Seems like a great American artist.

Lahren: He’s not an American artist.

Ball: He’s Puerto Rican. That’s part of America, dear. 

This exchange seems humorous at first glance, but the ignorance it reveals is deeply troubling. After all, it’s a widespread example of how easily racial and cultural biases can override facts. 

So, back to Bad Bunny. Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, born and raised in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, already has three Grammys and over 100 billion streams on Spotify at the age of 31. His global appeal has only increased as he’s landed acting roles in movies Bullet Train (2022) and Happy Gilmore 2 (2025), all while juggling guest performances on Saturday Night Live and his world tour. 

However, this world tour ended up not including the United States. In an interview with i-D magazine in September, he said that all of his shows in the US “have been magnificent,” and that he’s “enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the US.” He then went on to explain that “there was the issue of — like, fucking ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”

By not performing in the United States, Martínez Ocasio was knowingly sacrificing millions of dollars in order to protect his fans. It’s a powerful and selfless decision, but it’s deeply troubling that ICE has created fear in spaces where people simply want to celebrate their culture, regardless of immigration status.

I’ll end with an important snippet from his latest appearance on SNL, where Martínez Ocasio said that his upcoming performance is “more than an achievement for [himself], it’s an achievement for all of us. It shows our footprint, and our contribution to this country, that no one will ever be able to take away or erase.” He said this in Spanish, a bold and deliberate choice in a country that often demands assimilation. In these times of fear and division in our country, Bad Bunny’s presence on one of the world’s biggest stages reminds us that American culture is not just one thing- it’s many.