“The only thing more powerful than hate, is love,” is what was displayed on the scoreboard as Bad Bunny, Puerto Rican rapper and singer, performed at the NFL’s Superbowl Halftime Show performance on Sunday, Feb. 8.

It sickens me that I am writing a piece like this because this is an entire meal that is feeding that hate, but I cannot stay quiet.

The conservative organization, Turning Point USA, found it necessary to put on an “All-American Halftime Show” to protest the NFL’s choice of Bad Bunny. It featured Kid Rock as the headliner along with country artists Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett. I feel it is important to name the artists who performed because I will never listen to or support them ever. I am just glad my favorite country singer was not a part of that mess.

“Bad Bunny has inappropriate lyrics,” is an argument that I am hearing from the people who were in full support of the TPUSA halftime show. The same people who are complaining about not understanding a word of the performance, as it was solely in Spanish. Maybe it is a good idea to download Duolingo.

Also, why do some English-speaking Americans have to throw a fit when someone speaks a different language? I will never understand how that will offend someone. I get the frustration of not understanding what is being said, as English is the official language in America, which was only recently declared by Trump in 2025, but all I hear are those miniature violins playing. Hating on someone who is literate enough to speak more than one language is a fight I will never understand.

Of course, TPUSA has every right to perform their own halftime show. They are just extending their First Amendment right, but that does not make it right. It is the reasoning. Naming it “All-American” is really what turned my head. It is sending the same message as having a separate water fountain did during segregation. 

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated U.S. territory, therefore making anyone born there an American citizen. For some reason that is a hard concept for people to grasp. Those two words, “All-American,” are subliminally making the statement and defining who is American and who is not, even though Bad Bunny is literally American. 

TPUSA claimed that they wanted a more “family friendly” alternative, saying the show would promote “faith, family and freedom,” before even knowing what Bad Bunny’s performance would be like. I can understand a family’s distaste for the show due to the women dancing inappropriately, and I think that is the only valid argument.

Bad Bunny also chose to spread love and inclusion, something that the “All-American Halftime Show” was extremely lacking. “Together we are America,” is what was written on the football that Bad Bunny held during his performance. This created a sense of unity, rather than encouraging division.

I truly believe that if Charlie Kirk were still alive, TPUSA would not have done this. They only gained a larger audience after his death anyway. They claimed that the entire performance was for Kirk, but they did not do anything like this when Kirk was alive. We can look forward to another “All-American Halftime Show” next year, unless the NFL performer is white and sings in English. 

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