Bad Bunny performed at the Super Bowl almost entirely in Spanish including what some believe to be subtle political messages

Although Bad Bunny didn’t mention ICE during the Super Bowl halftime show, he might have made several subtle political references throughout.

The Puerto Rican artist, who said ‘ICE out’ after accepting his album of the year award at the Grammys, had a slightly different message during his 14-minute set on Sunday.

Bad Bunny, real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, made a statement about the importance of diversity and listed the names of all countries in North and South America.

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The only thing he said in English was ‘God bless America’, paired with a billboard that read: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”

On the surface, he promoted a message of American unity; however, some believe that his performance included messages about slavery, Puerto Rican history, and electrical blackouts.

Bad Bunny has also been vocal about immigration issues in the past (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)

The sugar cane slave trade

When the ‘MONACO’ hitmaker performed ‘Tití Me Preguntó’, it was staged in a faux sugar cane field, which may have been a nod to the slave trade.

“The history of sugar slavery runs deep throughout the Southern states, the Caribbean, and parts of South America,” Dr Allison Wiltz explained on X.

“His performance was brilliant, thought provoking, well executed.”

The history of sugar slavery runs deep throughout the Southern states, the Caribbean, and parts of South America. His performance was brilliant, thought provoking, well executed

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@KryssyLaReina

Like are you kidding me?! pic.x.com/WM4PmZeau0

“Keep it mind my grandfather was a Louisiana sugar sharecropper during Jim Crow, and his father an enslaved worker who harvested cane before you respond with foolishness,” she added.

According to the Minority Rights Group, Afro-Puerto Ricans were made to work in sugar plantations and gold mines, with Puerto Rico becoming one of the biggest exporters of sugar, coffee, cotton, and tobacco through slave labour, until slavery was abolished in the country in 1873.

Light blue Puerto Rican flag

Bad Bunny listed the names of all countries in North and South America (Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)

You may also have noticed him waving around a Puerto Rican flag with a lighter blue shade. This light blue colour is said to be associated with Puerto Rico’s pro–independence movement.

Bad Bunny alluded to the flag before in ‘La Mudanza’, where he sings: “Here they killed people for showing the flag/That’s why I bring it everywhere I want now.”

Puerto Rico’s former gag law made it illegal to own the island’s flag from 1948 until 1957.

Electricity issues

The stage design included imagery of exploding power grids, which could be interpreted as a nod to Puerto Rico’s ongoing power outages.

Widespread blackouts are fairly common and are an issue he has addressed during his 2022 mini-documentary El Apagón.

Translating to ‘power outage’ in English, they tend to worsen after hurricanes in the Caribbean.

Bad Bunny also held a lighter coloured Puerto Rican flag (Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)

Hurricane Maria in 2017 caused power grid issues for months, while Hurricane Fiona in 2022 disabled 100 per cent of the grid for weeks.

However, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Puerto Ricans experienced an average of 27 hours of power grid interruption per year between 2021 and 2024, without hurricanes.

“My motherland, Puerto Rico,” Bad Bunny said before he closed the show with a tribute.

And in case you missed it, ‘together we are America’ was the message written on the American football held to the camera.

Featured Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation

Bad Bunny makes huge social media move after Super Bowl halftime show

Bad Bunny’s social media looks a bit strange for a man who just performed one of the biggest shows of his life.

His Super Bowl performance attracted all manner of praise and a couple of criticisms from certain individuals, as he kept the crowds entertained halfway through the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.

However, when all was done and dusted, the Puerto Rican singer with over 50 million Instagram followers appears to have cleared out all the content on his profile.

He’s still one of the most followed accounts on the site, but at the time of writing, his account is bereft of a profile picture or any posts for people to look at.

If you do venture there then the link to his work is still functioning, but that’s pretty much it so his next move is something of a mystery.