As the NFL barrels toward Super Bowl Sunday, a familiar drama is playing out off the field: politics, protests, and performers using America’s biggest stage to push an agenda.
This year, conservatives say the league crossed yet another line by handing the halftime spotlight to global pop star Bad Bunny, an artist who has openly attacked U.S. immigration enforcement. In response, Turning Point USA is offering fans a counterprogramming option they say reflects real American values.
TPUSA this week unveiled its “ALL-AMERICAN Halftime Show,” a no-frills, pro-patriot alternative featuring Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett. Supporters are urging viewers to skip what they call the NFL’s “anti-ICE spectacle” and instead back performers who don’t use their fame to trash the country that made them famous.
The backlash intensified after Bad Bunny turned the Grammys into a political rally just days before his scheduled Super Bowl appearance. After winning three awards, including Album of the Year, the singer used his acceptance speech to take direct aim at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Before I say thanks to god, I’m going to say, ICE Out,” he declared, drawing loud applause from the audience.
He continued by framing the issue in sweeping emotional terms, saying, “We are not savage. We are not animals. We are not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.” Bad Bunny then argued that resistance to immigration enforcement should be rooted in emotion rather than law, insisting, “The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love.”
Wrapping up, he urged supporters to fight differently, adding, “So, please, we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love… We don’t hate them, we love our people, we love our family, and that’s the way to do it, with love.”
The remarks came just one week before the Super Bowl, where federal authorities are expected to have a visible presence.
Asked about the growing outrage, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell declined to criticize Bad Bunny, choosing instead to praise the artist and defend the league’s decision.
Speaking during his annual Super Bowl week press conference, Goodell called Bad Bunny “one of the greatest artists in the world,” and suggested the singer knew exactly what he was doing when he spoke out.
“He understood the platform he was on,” Goodell said, explaining that the Super Bowl is meant to “unite people and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, with their talent.” According to Goodell, that tradition justified the selection, concluding, “I think Bad Bunny understands that and I think he’ll have a great performance.”
To critics, it sounded less like unity and more like the NFL blessing political activism — again.
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl booking, first announced in September, immediately triggered backlash from conservative leaders. The singer, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has previously cited ICE as the reason he avoided mainland U.S. tour dates, raising red flags among administration officials.
Donald Trump was among those who sharply criticized the choice and later confirmed he would skip the Super Bowl entirely because of it.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has made clear that federal law enforcement will not be sidelined for the NFL’s biggest event. ICE agents are expected to be active in the Bay Area ahead of the Seahawks–Patriots matchup at Levi’s Stadium.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem left little room for doubt, vowing, “We’ll be all over that place.” A DHS official echoed the message, stressing that “Those who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear.”
Despite reports claiming ICE would avoid operations tied to Super Bowl events, DHS later clarified that plans to be on the ground had not changed.
With protests erupting nationwide after recent high-profile incidents involving ICE officers, tensions remain high heading into Super Bowl week. Some administration officials have accused local governments of undermining federal law enforcement and escalating unrest.
Trump ally Corey Lewandowski issued a blunt warning last year that still looms large: “There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally, not the Super Bowl, and nowhere else.”
He added, “We will find you, we will apprehend you, we will put you in a detention facility and we will deport you.”
Noem echoed that hardline stance, even urging people to stay away if they don’t respect the law, telling Americans to avoid the game “unless they are law-abiding Americans who love this country.” She reinforced the message with a promise that enforcement would continue, saying, “We’ll be all over that place… we’re gonna enforce the law.”
