The prospect of the NFL’s selection of Bad Bunny to headline the Super Bowl halftime show not exploding into a culture war is gone entirely as the U.S. government and the Puerto Rican superstar spent the weekend engaged in a further war of words.
The league’s choice a week ago of Bad Bunny, one of the most-streamed and top-selling musicians in the world, has increasingly angered political conservatives, as he has made a particular and public point of playing most of his concerts outside of the U.S. to help keep his Latino fans from being approached by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, however, went a significant step further, lashing out at the league for selecting Bad Bunny for the high-profile slot.
“Well, they suck, and we’ll win,” Noem said about the NFL on The Benny Show. “And God will bless us, and we’ll stand and be proud of ourselves at the end of the day. They won’t be able to sleep at night because they don’t know what they believe. And they’re so weak, we’ll fix it.”
Noem’s comments followed ones from DHS senior advisor Corey Lewandowski, who said that ICE enforcement would be happening at Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2026.
“There is nowhere you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally,” Lewandowski said separately on the same show. “Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else.”
The NFL has been able to largely avoid public entanglements with U.S. President Donald Trump or his administration since a high-profile battle eight years ago surrounding then-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and it will bear close watching whether that remains the case.
Even as Trump has been a regular visitor to many high-profile sports events, some other leagues and governing bodies have distanced themselves somewhat from the White House—even those that have had a close relationship with the president.
FIFA, which has a New York office in Trump Tower, pushed back last week on a suggestion from the president that World Cup games would be moved from Democratic-led cities, saying, “It’s FIFA’s tournament, FIFA’s jurisdiction, FIFA makes those decisions. With all due respect to current world leaders, football is bigger than them.”
Saturday Night Response
Bad Bunny, meanwhile, made his own response on national TV as the guest host of the season 51 premiere of NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
During his opening monologue, Bad Bunny leaned heavily into his culture, going back and forth between speaking English and Spanish. He began in English, saying, “Really, I’m very excited to be doing the Super Bowl. I know that people all around the world who love my music are also happy,” even joking that Fox News was on board. He then switched to Spanish, saying, “Especially all of the Latinos and Latinas … who have worked to open doors. It’s more than a win for myself, it’s a win for all of us. Our footprints and our contribution in this country, no one will be able to take that away or erase it.”
The monologue ended in English, as he said, “If you don’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn,” referring to the Feb. 8 date for Super Bowl LX.
NBC will also air that game featuring his halftime performance.
