Why is Bad Bunny on MAGA’s radar?
Posted October 20, 2025 7:35 am.
Last Updated October 20, 2025 7:42 am.
It won’t be a quiet four-month quest for Bad Bunny to return to the Super Bowl stage as this time he will be the halftime show headliner.
U.S. President Donald Trump along with many of his affiliates and America’s Republican diaspora have gone full-fledged meltdown over the global superstar being tapped to perform on one of the world’s biggest stages. There is even an attempt to create a version of an ‘all-American’ halftime show organized by Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.
But the Puerto Rican native seems to be taking the flack in stride, making light of the hate during an SNL opening monologue. He warned Americans that they only have four months to learn Spanish, which is the only language the performance will be done in.
Host Maria Kestane speaks to Julyssa Lopez, the deputy music editor at Rolling Stone, to discuss why MAGA has its eye on Bad Bunny, and how the messages of government officials and MAGA-adjacent figures play into the ‘othering’ of Puerto Ricans and Hispanic culture at large.
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