NFL commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed that there are no plans to replace Bad Bunny as the halftime performer at Super Bowl LX in February.
Goodell made his first statement on the matter as backlash against the Puerto Rican performer, who only performs songs in Spanish and has expressed anti-ICE sentiments, has grown in recent weeks. A petition to replace Bad Bunny (real name Benito Ocasio) with country performer George Strait earned more than 50,000 signatures.
“It’s carefully thought through,” Goodell said of the performance, per ABC News. “I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching.”
“We’re confident it’s going to be a great show,” the commissioner added. “[Ocasio] understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.”
“He’s one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world,” Goodell said of Bad Bunny’s global appeal. “That’s what we try to achieve. It’s an important stage for us. It’s an important element to the entertainment value.”
The artist’s selection, which was made in conjunction with Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation, was controversial because of his past anti-ICE statements, including his refusal to schedule any tour stops in the United States due to alleged fears about his fans being taken into ICE custody at his shows.
“…There was the issue of — like, f***ing ICE could be outside (my concert). And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” Bad Bunny said, referring to ICE agents as “motherf***ers” and “sons of bitches.”
Ocasio also addressed the backlash he and the NFL received about none of his songs being English, advising viewers to learn Spanish if they didn’t like it.
Earlier this month, Turning Point USA announced that they would be hosting an alternative All-American Halftime Show at the same time as the Super Bowl halftime show.
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