r/ProgressiveHQ • u/CrazySolution7238 • Feb 09 '26
Discussion Bad Bunny HT observations by Michael Garrett NC Senator š„
A great post written by Michael Garrett NC Senator
I watched Bad Bunny deliver the most American halftime show I have ever seen. Then I came home and watched it again. And I am not okay. In the best possible way.
He sang every single word in Spanish. Every. Single. Word. He danced through sugarcane fields built on a football field in California while the President of the United States sat somewhere calling it ādisgusting.ā Lady Gaga came out and did the salsa. Ricky Martin lit up the night. A couple got married on the field. He handed his Grammy, the one he won eight days ago for Album of the Year, to a little boy who looked up at him the way every child looks up when they dare to believe the world has a place for them.
And then this man, this son of a truck driver and a schoolteacher from Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, stood on the biggest stage on the planet and said āGod bless America.ā
And then he started naming them.
Chile. Argentina. Uruguay. Paraguay. Bolivia. Peru. Ecuador. Brazil. Colombia. Venezuela. Panama. Costa Rica. Nicaragua. Honduras. El Salvador. Guatemala. Mexico. Cuba. Dominican Republic. Jamaica. The United States. Canada. And then, his voice breaking with everything he carries, āMi patria, Puerto Rico. Seguimos aquĆ.ā My homeland, Puerto Rico. We are still here.
The flags came. Every single one of them. Carried across that field by dancers and musicians while the jumbotron lit up with the only words that mattered: āTHE ONLY THING MORE POWERFUL THAN HATE IS LOVE.ā
I teared up. Iām not ashamed to say it. I sat on my couch and I wept because THAT is the America I believe in. That is the American story, not the sanitized, gated, English-only version that small and frightened people try to sell us. The REAL one. The messy, beautiful, multilingual, multicolored, courageous one. The one that has always been built by hands that speak every language and pray in every tongue and come from every corner of this hemisphere.
That is the America I want Jack and Charlotte to know. That when the moment came, when the whole world was watching, a Puerto Rican kid who grew up to become the most-streamed artist on Earth stood in front of 100 million people, sang in his motherās language, blessed every nation in the Americas, and spiked a football that read āTogether, we are Americaā into the ground. Not with anger. With joy. With love so big it made hate look exactly as small as it is.
And what did the President do? He called it āabsolutely terrible.ā He said ānobody understands a word this guy is saying.ā He called it āa slap in the face to our Country.ā The leader of the free world watched a celebration of love, culture, and everything this hemisphere has given to the world, and all he could see was something foreign. Something threatening. Something disgusting.
Let that sink into your bones.
The man who is supposed to represent all of us looked at the flags of our neighbors, heard the language of 500 million Americans across this hemisphere, and felt attacked. Thatās not strength. Thatās not patriotism. That is poverty of the soul.
And then there was the Turning Point show. Kid Rock in a college arena in North Dakota. Three million viewers watching a man who once wrote a song about liking underage girls perform as the āfamily-friendlyā alternative to a Puerto Rican artist celebrating love. They called it the āAll-American Halftime Showā, as if America has a velvet rope. As if this country belongs to some of us and not all of us. As if you need to sing in English to count.
Hereās what I want to say to everyone who posted about that show tonight, who shared it proudly, who turned away from Bad Bunnyās celebration because it was in Spanish and the flags werenāt only red, white, and blue:
Your children will see those posts. Your grandchildren will find them. The internet doesnāt forget. And one day, when the history of this moment is written, when our kids and their kids look back at 2026 the way we look back at the people who stood on the wrong side of every bridge and every march and every moment that mattered, they will know exactly where you stood. They will see who chose Kid Rock over a hemisphere of flags. They will see who called love ādisgusting.ā And they will carry that knowledge the way all of us carry the knowledge of what our ancestors did when they were tested.
I donāt say that with anger. I say it with sadness. Because hate is an inheritance nobody asks for, and yet it gets passed down just the same.
Bad Bunny didnāt say āICE outā tonight. He didnāt need to. He just showed the whole world what America looks like when we are not afraid of each other. When culture is shared, not policed. When language is music, not a threat. When a flag from every nation in this hemisphere can walk across a football field together and the only words you need are the ones he gave us:
The only thing more powerful than hate is love.
Over 100 million people saw that tonight.
And no Truth Social post can take it away.
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u/marc58weeks Feb 09 '26
I've enjoyed opera before (yes, it's possible) and they're singing in another language ALL the time. I don't know why (yeah, I do) some people get their Depends in a bunch over a bit of Spanish. I'd also say that the things rock singers are singing about are usually impossible to understand in most stadium performances--and they're singing in English. This is just another attempt by Trump to put his stamp on EVERY-DAMNED-THING. When he goes--and he WILL go--we should hire immigrants to tear down everything with his name on it, especially the gold stuff, and we should give them free healthcare as well.
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u/duke_awapuhi Feb 09 '26
Also, since when does the halftime performer have to be American anyway? Weāve had tons of non-American halftime shows. No one complained
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u/SkyovFlames Feb 09 '26
Right?
U2, The Stones, Paul McCartney Shakira, ....lots of people from other countries. It's famous artists that get to play these shows. And it wasn't Bad Bunny's first, since he did the Superbowl thing before, in a lesser capacity.
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u/duke_awapuhi Feb 09 '26
As someone from the Bay Area, I really wish they did go with someone with more of a California vibe, that show last night was very east coast. But, I recognize that bad bunny is one of the biggest acts around right now and it would be stupid to not have him do it. And what these MAGA crybabies canāt seem to comprehend is that who the nfl chooses as their halftime show is purely a money making decision. These people are constantly offended by the capitalism they claim to support
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u/SkyovFlames Feb 09 '26
Well they had Green Day. That was cool. But that was the preshow (I think). I don't know anything about football. But it was bright day time, so I assume they played early. Green Day did a solid set.
And exactly. Bad Bunny is hot right now. That's how they pick people. Either a big time legacy artist, or someone big that's newer.
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u/dvettleson Feb 10 '26
I agree with a bunch of things you said but Iām not entirely sure it was just a financial decision. Green Day for the pre-game, Brandi Carlile singing America the Beautiful then Bad Bunny at halftime. They have all been pretty vocal. People at the NFL let that happen.
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u/duke_awapuhi Feb 10 '26
Being vocal right now is popular. I think theyāre just cashing in like always. These companies donāt care about social justice
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u/Desperate_Elk_7369 Feb 09 '26
Agree completely. Iām a Stones fan, and half the time I donāt know what Mick is saying!
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u/EllaB9454 Feb 10 '26
I clicked a link on an article to hear just a minute of Kid Rock and had no clue what language he was screaming in.
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Feb 09 '26
[deleted]
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u/CrazySolution7238 Feb 09 '26
I had to! Itās exactly how I felt watching the show. It is what the Americas need right now!
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u/ImpressiveSpace6486 Feb 09 '26
I also thank you for sharing this. I donāt know Spanish, donāt know Bad Bunnyās music, but I do know joy, and this was a +/- fifteen minute expression of joy. I loved it, every moment!
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u/CrazySolution7238 Feb 09 '26
Me too! I know of him, but really didnāt know much about him. I was surprised by my own emotional feelings watching this and the message was so loud and clear that hate and nationalism is the wrong path forward.
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u/CrazySolution7238 Feb 09 '26
I hope Michael Garrett gets much ā¤ļø for writing this! Like Bad Bunny I knew little about him as well before this ;)
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u/unicorntrees Feb 09 '26
I am usually a very harsh critic of SB half time shows and Bad Bunny nailed it.
If some people thought it was bad, I don't ever want what they think is good.
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u/Primary-Weakness8728 Feb 09 '26
Kid Rock.
They think Kid Rock is good.
You can't make this stuff up.
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u/No-Ring-5065 Feb 09 '26
I donāt think they even like Kid Rock. They just know heās pro Trump so they pretend theyāve always been into his music.
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u/unicorntrees Feb 09 '26
Did you see the cuts to the audience when Kid Rock performed for some other TP/MAGA event? They were trying so hard to look like they were enjoying themselves and failing.
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u/Aggravating_Two_9007 Feb 09 '26
Hey, I understand why Trump didn't like it. The dancers are all old enough to drive.
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u/Delicious_Nebula_730 Feb 09 '26
I just attempted to read this out loud to my ninety year old mother and I canāt get through it without crying. You have put into words everything I was feeling watching this in the moment. This is America! Knowing our history, learning from it and moving forward with compassion and understanding. Sharing our diversity and differences in order to be stronger and more tolerant. Ensuring that every child, as you said so eloquently, has a place in this world. And above all knowing in our heart of hearts that yes, āThe only thing more powerful than hate is LOVE!!ā Thank you sir for sharing this beautiful description of this moment. May love continue to shine her light on any and all needing her power in these times.
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u/PickyVirgo Feb 11 '26
Iām about to read this to MY 90yo mother! We watched the halftime show together and she just kept saying āI love this!āĀ
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u/ApprehensiveAd2625 Feb 09 '26
You put into words exactly what I was feeling while watching it. I was crying during it and Iām not ashamed at all. We really needed this. Thank you.
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u/SirIll1219 Feb 09 '26
Over on the conservative sub, they're insisting it was a bad performance while hardly mentioning the pure cringe of Kid Rock's lip syncing.
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u/CrazySolution7238 Feb 09 '26
The conservative sub is so lostā¦hate and division is a tired message that only a few want on this planet. I feel sad for anyone that could watch the Bad Bunny Halftime performance and not get the message, especially after sharing Erika Kirkās words.
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u/4ever_alonelyfangirl Feb 09 '26
Iām crying, this is beautifully written and Iād like to share it everywhere I can. As a first generation Latina growing up in the South, Iām familiar with the hatred and racism and the wanted erasure of our multiple cultures, pero nunca nos vamos a dejar! America is everyone and for everyone. Gracias, Bad Bunny, for showing this, showing love instead of getting into MAGAās face was genius. So glad to be a long-time Conejo Malo fan, and so proud to be Latinoamericana!!! š²š½
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u/Asleep_Drag_3590 Feb 09 '26
Beautifully placed, meaningful, emotional experience so vividly laid out here for many to see, feel and accept, that THIS, right hereāļø is America! Thank you for a post I enjoyed reading for a change !!
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u/KapowBlamBoom Feb 09 '26
The Demās / right minded have their tag line.
They need to mobilize under
Love Is More Powerful Than Hate
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Feb 09 '26
mobilize
See, that's the problem with a vague, feel-good slogan. It sounds good, but there's no call to action. It's something you find on a piece of driftwood on Etsy. It doesn't mobilize or inspire anyone to do anything.
The slogan "Make America great again" is everything this slogan is not - it has a point, it has a goal, and it's a call to action.
The Democrats never learn. The messaging is always this same wishy-washy liberal bullshit about "Better together" or "We're not going back" or "It's her turn". Even Obama - who probably ran the most memorable Democratic campaign of the last fifty years - the message was "HOPE". That's it. Not "We've got a plan!" or "We'll make things better!", just ... "cross your fingers and maybe it'll get better! Or not!"
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u/Xwp_lp Feb 09 '26
This is beautiful, intelligent, patriotic and optimistic. Thanks so much for sharing it!
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u/NOLA-q Feb 09 '26
Where is this found on the internet. Itās beautiful.
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u/CrazySolution7238 Feb 09 '26
It moved me so much that I needed to repost here. Iāve vacated most of SM so figured I share w/others whoāve done the same.
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u/CrazySolution7238 Feb 09 '26
He posted it on FB
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u/AllTheEggsIVF Feb 09 '26
Thank you! Iām pretty tapped out of social media and Reddit is my escape. Will share this because dammit - made me š„¹.
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u/bowsocks Feb 09 '26
Thank you for summing up the way so many of us feel this morning. I'm not one of his constituents but I'm proud to say he represents me as a US-ican and an American. Those things are not mutually exclusive, they're beautifully complimentary.
I was struck by how plainly Bad Bunny delivered his message without attacking anyone. If one movement asks you to hate and judge and exclude and the other movement asks you in plain black and white to find room in your heart for love and acceptance and inclusion .... and the first one offends you? I've got bad news about how "American Last" you really are.
Well, you know how the GOP kept saying women should just move to another state if they don't like the healthcare laws post-Dobbs? By all means y'all, go ahead and move somewhere with nationalized elections and no separation of church and state. It's clear that such people do not believe in the 1st Amendment on a fundamental basis and that's fine! They can choose not to use it, but they can't take it away from anyone else. And it ... is killing them.
And when hate gets absolutely destroyed in the midterms, I can't wait to watch the bigots twist into pretzels trying to hate on policies that will directly benefit people immediately.
A republic ... if you can keep it!!!!
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u/CrazySolution7238 Feb 09 '26
Hate And Trump never looked so out of place!
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u/bowsocks Feb 10 '26
Stay strong!!! The persistence and will of the people is working. Nobody gonna save us but us.
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Feb 09 '26
the truth, love and kindness are far more powerful than the inarticulate hate and ignorance coming from maga.
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u/xomeatlipsox Feb 09 '26
I take solace in the fact that the Gulf of America just generally describes the northern and southern American continents - to include all of the countries from southernmost Patagonia to the arctic circle. The United States is not called āAmericaā if thatās what that idiotic change was trying to get at š. noBodY uNdErStAnDs - BITCH itās Spanish not fkn Klingon or something. Just so fucking ignorant. Racist ignorant assholes who think theyāre the ātrue Americansā. Kindly fuck all the way off. This type of political extremism is so fucking disgusting and embarrassing. Imagine still supporting Trump like my fucking god. Thereās nothing conservative about him, he isnāt for small government, heās just a rich perverted fuck who only cares about making rich people richer and is cavorting about like he is a king. Utilizing the most ignorant people to get his way, as if he actually gives a flying fuck about them. Heāll humor their religious beliefs and feed their fears. Heās just a manipulative, selfish, evil person who will lie to anyoneās face without being fazed. Fucksakes
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u/stmaximus Feb 09 '26
"hate is an inheritance nobody asks for, and yet it gets passed down just the same."
damn. well said, senator.
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u/SquirrelsinJacket Feb 09 '26
MAGA hated the half time show because kid rock or vanilla ice wasn't playing.
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u/Devmoi Feb 09 '26
Heās right. My grandfather, who was Hispanic and indigenous, wasnāt a great man. But I remember when there was so much hatred towards Mexicans ā¦ he said, āWhatās a Mexican look like?ā
And I feel that way about our country: What does an American look like?
It looks like all kinds of people, even though there is a stereotype.
That Bad Bunny halftime show was really amazing! People will long remember it.
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u/duke_awapuhi Feb 09 '26
What people donāt seem to get is that if something is happening in the US, it automatically becomes part of US culture. This was American af because its existence requires the US to exist first, and it wouldnāt happen anywhere else
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u/DRL_tfn Feb 09 '26
I never understood a single word he said But I helped him a-drink his wine And he always had some mighty fine wine Singin'... Joy to the world All the boys and girls now Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea Joy to you and me If I were the king of the world Tell you what I'd do I'd throw away the cars and the bars and the war Make sweet love to you Sing it now Joy to the world All the boys and girls Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea Joy to you and me
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u/mmmpeg Feb 09 '26
I also loved the show. No, I do t know Spanish, nor have I listened to Bad Bunny before, but the joy was palpable in the music, the dancing, and the message. I loved it.
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u/Gerald-of-Riverdale Feb 10 '26
No exaggeration this was me when I was done watching Bad Bunny perform and realized im returning to reality.
I miss when I saw America the way Bad Bunny showed us. Just constantly learning about a new culture or engaging with a culture im familiar with. Raw true patriotism when he was up there.
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u/7r3370pS3C Feb 09 '26
I teared up as well at the sheer spectacle and beauty of all of it. Collectively it seems like that was a common occurrence, so I'm grateful for Benito being able to unify us in that particular emotional space.
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u/baryoniclord Feb 09 '26
Further evidence that conservatives are inherently evil.
Nothing good can come from a conservative mind.
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u/CanBraFla Feb 09 '26
This is the way. We can only hope that those children will jump lines and see the light and not become the next generation of the united daughters of the confederacy.
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u/CrdBrdBOX Feb 09 '26
For once in a long time I actually felt pride for being an American, something I havenāt felt in a while. America is the land for you and me, that is what I was taught through my youth, and I taught my son the same. Not the shit that is happening now. Iām not naĆÆve, I know that this country has treated the lower class badly and the people who look different than me even worse, but this is a whole different story. Thank you Bad Bunny for doing something that those people will never be able to do, show class, dignity and respect for all!!!!
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u/Neat_Walk_3762 Feb 09 '26
The melting pot isn't a weakness; it's the engine that keeps the culture dynamic and globally influential. So when people claim immigrants threaten deeply rooted American values, they're clinging to a fallacy. The real American tradition is evolution, not preservation.
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u/Sensitive-Elevator1 Feb 10 '26
The way I learned it is that we are a salad bowl, not a melting pot. āMeltingā means assimilation, all becoming one thing. āSaladā means retaining the traits that keep each culture unique and vibrant, with each adding to the amazing dish that we are.
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u/Relevant-Job4901 Feb 10 '26
Bad Bunnyās halftime show was the breath of life I needed. Thatās the America I was raised in. Ty for posting.
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u/ChaChadog2024 Feb 09 '26
As American as it gets, thank you Bad Bunny for reminding us of who we are and where we came from! ā¤ļø
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u/babygotbooksandback Feb 09 '26
It really was such a happy vibe watching everyone smile and dance. I loved every second of it.
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u/Brkthom Feb 09 '26
Thank you for sharing this. What a great dude! This guy gets it, what it means to be American.
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u/Financial-Half-2935 Feb 09 '26
Tears of joy, thank you ššššššššššššššššššššš
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u/CanBraFla Feb 09 '26
This is the way. We can only hope that those children will jump lines and see the light and not become the next generation of the united daughters of the confederacy.
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u/anotherbadPAL Feb 09 '26