Jay-Z dismisses Bad Bunny Super Bowl outrage
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Legendary rapper Jay-Z has come out to defend Bad Bunny amid controversy over the Puerto Rican recording artist being chosen to perform at the Super Bowl LX halftime show.
Jay-Z’s company, Roc Nation, co-produces the NFL’s halftime show and reportedly makes the final call on the headliner each year. The casting of Bad Bunny this year drew backlash from fans.
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Bad Bunny performs on the Coachella Stage of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on Friday, April 21, 2023 in Indio, California. (Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK)
But Jay-Z wasn’t swallowing this anger.
“They love it. Don’t let them fool you,” he said TMZ Sports Monday night.
Jay-Z didn’t go any further, telling the TMZ reporter that he “has no news for you.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defended Bad Bunny’s selection despite the Grammy Award winner’s comments about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last year.
“It was carefully considered,” Goodell said of the decision-making process for the halftime show. “I’m not sure we cast an artist that didn’t get backlash or criticism. It’s pretty hard to do that when there are hundreds of millions of people actually watching.”
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Bad Bunny, whose birth name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has faced criticism from President Donald Trump and his supporters for his public comments about the president and his administration. The 31-year-old actor expressed his fears about ICE, so he decided to pursue a residency in his native Puerto Rico to avoid stopping in the United States.
Last month, he said fans were not making US dates on his tour for fear they would be detained by ICE agents.
“But there was the problem of ICE being out there. [my concert]. This is something we have talked about and are very concerned about,” he told i-D.
Bad Bunny also recorded video of what he described as domestic ICE raids in Puerto Rico and posted it on social media.
“Look, those motherfuckers are in these cars, RAV-4s. They’re here in Pontezuela,” he said in Spanish, referring to ICE working on Avenida Pontezuela in Carolina, a city east of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell looks on during a press conference before the NFL Super Bowl LIX football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs at Caesars Superdome on February 3, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Some NFL fans took issue not only with these comments, but also with the fact that their hit songs were all sung in Spanish. But Goodell has no reservations about the spectacle he expects from Bad Bunny.
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“We are confident it will be a great show,” Goodell said. “He understands the platform he’s on, and I think it will be an exciting and unified moment.”
Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.
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