President Donald Trump has weighed in on Bad Bunny’s nomination as the 2026 Super Bowl halftime headliner, calling the choice “absolutely ridiculous.”
On Monday’s episode of Newsmax Greg Kelly reportsthe host asked Trump for his thoughts on the ad. “The NFL just chose Bad Bunny or whatever his name is,” Greg Kelly said. “This guy, who hates ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement); he doesn’t like you; he accuses everything he doesn’t like of racism.”
After asking Trump if he would consider boycotting the NFL, Kelly said Bad Bunny “doesn’t seem to be a unifying artist and a lot of people don’t even know who he is.”
“I’ve never heard of him,” Trump said of the musician. “I don’t know who he is.”
Even though Trump said he was unfamiliar with Bad Bunny’s music, he made it clear that he disagreed with the decision to have him perform as a headliner for the game. “I don’t know why they do this. It’s crazy,” he said. “And then they blame it on a promoter that they hired to provide entertainment – I think that’s absolutely ridiculous.”
After Bad Bunny was named headliner, Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski said ICE would be at the match. Additionally, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reiterated Lewandowski’s claims by insisting that ICE agents would be “everywhere” during the Super Bowl.
Bad Bunny recently said he didn’t include any U.S. dates on his latest tour, in part because of concerns about possible ICE raids.
“There are many reasons why I didn’t come to the United States, and none of them were motivated by hatred. I performed there several times. All (the shows) were a success,” he said. “But there was the question of… like fucking ICE could be outside (of my concert). And that was something that we were talking about and that we were very concerned about.”
Bad Bunny also responded to conservative criticism regarding his upcoming halftime performance when he hosted the season 51 premiere of Saturday evening live on October 4.
“You may not know this, but I’m on the Super Bowl Halftime Show. And I’m very happy, and I think everyone is happy,” he told the audience. “Even Fox News!”
The show then aired a montage of edited segments designed to make it appear as if the hosts were saying, “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician and he should be the next president.”
“I’m really excited to be at the Super Bowl, I know people around the world who love my music are happy too,” Bad Bunny continued.
“Especially all the Latinos and Latinas of the world here in the United States who worked to open the doors,” he then said in Spanish. “It’s more than a victory for me, it’s a victory for all of us. Our footprints and our contribution to this country, no one will ever be able to remove or erase them.”
The three-time Grammy winner ended the monologue by saying in English, “And if you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!”
