Feb 13, 2026
3 min read
Right-wing lawmakers are now calling for multiple investigations into Bad Bunny's Super Bowl performance, calling the halftime show "pure smut."
Republicans have entered a new, dumber phase of Bad Bunny rage
Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show lives on rent-free in the minds of Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators.Many in the South were outraged that a Puerto Rican star was tapped for the NFL show and criticized the Spanish-language performance in real time.The GOP won't let it, and has since called for multiple investigations of those responsible, and Bad Bunny lyrics make a comedy show of transforming and dissecting the public sphere.
It started on Monday morning.Rep.Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) wrote a letter to the House Energy Committee demanding a formal investigation of the NFL and NBCUniversal for their "prior knowledge, screening, and approval of inappropriate content from the Apple Music halftime show."
"The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show was spectacularly clean, shamelessly broadcast on national television for every American household to see. Children were forced to endure blatant displays of gay sex acts, women driving provocatively, and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his crotch while having sex on air."Ogles wrote.“The lyrics of the glorious performance openly gave way to sodomy and a handful of depravities, others unspeakable.”
Ogles said in a press release on X that the show "features non-gay images" (which we didn't see) and that the show is "a clear indication that Puerto Rico should not be a state."
Meanwhile, Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) has called on the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the incident.Fine said at X that "the disgusting afternoon show was illegal" and that if Bad Bunny "said those lyrics - and everything else disgusting and pornographic - live in English, the broadcast would have been shut down and the fines would have been huge."
"Puerto Ricans are Americans and we all live by the same laws," Fine wrote, adding that he would send a letter to the FCC seeking "dramatic action, including fines and broadcasting license reviews, against the NFL, NBC and Bad Bunny."
Rep. Mark Alford (R-Missouri) spoke on Real America's Voice on Tuesday, claiming that while he is not fluent in Spanish, "the lyrics from what we saw in Bad Bunny are very disturbing."
"We have a lot of questions for the broadcaster and we will be talking to Brendan Carr of the FCC," he said."This could be worse than Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction."
Conservatives rushed to the FCC to complain about the inappropriate nature of the Super Bowl-time shows - an annual tradition.Kendrick Lamar's performance last year recorded 125 comments, including that the artist went "raunchy" and that Serena Williams' guest performance of Crip Walk glorified the "gang" community.Rihanna's 2023 show was also met with FCC complaints, including "twerking F should be high with a bomb" hysteria and claims that the white clothes of her backup dancers were meant to represent sperm.In 2016, the FCC was flooded with messages complaining that Beyoncé's visit to Bruno Mars was "no different than white people in KKK clothes."Shakira and Jennifer Lopez (with an episode filmed by Bad Bunny) received more than 1,300 complaints for their 2020 performances.
Members of Congress trying to destroy the players as they did against Bad Bunny signal a new front in the long-running culture war against Super Bowl players.
Like many famous artists before him, including many who played at the Super Bowl, Bad Bunny sings about women, grinding (on yourself and someone else), having many girlfriends but not having a wedding (although he does have a real wedding on Sunday), love, loss, and great things about where you come from.Just like your average NFL cheerleading squad, his dance prowess made a few outfits sway and even change a little.
If you're interested in a style in which violent people attack actors with accusations of violence, you're on to something.Republicans - led by Turning Point USA - staged a protest rally on Sunday, fronted by an all-white, English-speaking lineup of Kid Rock.The 55-year-old artist - who has been arrested several times and accused of violence - performed his song "Bawitdaba."rap, which includes family references to "bad actors", "competitors are all liars in Hollywood", meth, porn, and more.Someone should notify the FCC.
Another main complaint that conservatives have against Bad Bunny is that he sings almost entirely in Spanish.How were they supposed to understand him without real-time narration?As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) pointed out this week, one could wonder the same thing about Donald Trump.
Despite the controversy over Bad Bunny's performance, the halftime show garnered excellent ratings, ranking as the fourth most watched in halftime history.It received generally positive reviews in the United States and abroad.We do this every year, and right now if the Republicans see a halftime show that doesn't send them into a moral trap, that might be a sign to withdraw the event altogether.
