NEW YORK — The NFL is standing firmly behind Bad Bunny, its choice for the Super Bowl LX halftime show, even as the selection continues to generate political controversy.
League commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed Wednesday at the end of fall meetings here that there will be no change in the headline act for the Feb. 8 showcase at Levi’s Stadium.
“He’s one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world,” Goodell said. “That’s what we try to achieve. It’s an important stage for us, and an important element to the entertainment value [of the Super Bowl]. It’s carefully thought through. I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. That’s hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching. But I feel confident that it’s going to be a great show. He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be an exciting and uniting moment.”
Goodell did say that the halftime show with Bad Bunny will “evolve from here” in the ensuing months as production details and potential guest performers are finalized, but he stressed that’s a typical process.
“I’m not saying that there won’t be additional talent that might be involved, but that’s always how it works,” Goodell said.
Trump Speaks Out
The selection of the Puerto Rican superstar for the Super Bowl showcase has been a lightning-rod issue since it was announced. U.S. President Donald Trump has decried the choice, calling it “absolutely ridiculous,” and an online petition is now circulating to have veteran country music singer George Strait perform instead.
Bad Bunny has been outspoken against immigration enforcement initiatives pursued by the Trump Administration, and he has largely avoided playing in the continental U.S. because of it.
The outcry has grown to the point that Turning Point USA, the conservative advocacy group founded by the late Charlie Kirk, is developing counterprogramming around what it calls “The All-American Halftime Show.”
Regardless of the controversy, it’s a near-certainty that the Bad Bunny show will be part of a historic viewership total. Already, the NFL posted a U.S. television record in February 2025 for Super Bowl LIX, and since then has only grown its audience more, beyond even the impact of Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurement process.
