Is there a better ink stain test for the United States at this time than the reaction to which Bad Bunny is the part -time act for Super Bowl LX?
Shortly after its name was announced, social networks exploded in meritocracy debates as if the decisions of the National Soccer League were motivated culturally and not commercially. Taylor Swift is the most transmitted artist in the history of Spotify. Bad Bunny is number 2. For a National Sports League that tries to increase its popularity worldwide, justification seems clear.
And yet, because he is a Puerto Rican who sings in Spanish, conversational conversation leaders must project outrage and offer the listeners non -sensitive objections.
“It is so shameful that they have decided to choose someone who seems to hate so much to the United States to represent them in the part -time show,” Benny Johnson, the presenter of Conservative Podcast of Corey Lewandowski, told Benny, a confidant for a long time, who currently advises the Department of National Security, to the conservative presenter of the Podcast Benny Johnson. “We should be trying to be inclusive, not exclusive. There are many great bands and entertainment people who could play in that program that would unite people and not separate them.”
Suggesting Bad Bunny Hates America is an interesting shot given the Puerto Ricans have been US citizens since 1917. The three -time Grammy winner also has four albums No. 1 on the pop lists of US billboards and has already acted for part time in the Super Bowl in 2020 with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. The Federal Communications Commission received more than 1,300 complaints about the program that year with the vast majority of parents complaining about the Pole stripper and the twerking of women, not the alleged hatred of America of evil Bunny.
I don't know if Lewandowski and Johnson knew some of that before they started talking, but I have the feeling that I would not have imported anyway. Once Lewandowski suggested that ICE was going to be in the Super Bowl, an event that had an average price of resale tickets of $ 8,600 in 2024, it was clear that its conversation was not about solving the immigration problem.
It was clear that they didn't know much about the history of part -time acts either.
In 2006, a Super Bowl in Detroit's heart, Motown's birthplace, deployed the Rolling Stones, which are from London. In 2010, a Super Bowl in Miami, home of salsa and Afro-Cuban jazz, gave us the WHO … which is also from England. In 2002, months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, U2, a band of Dublin, Ireland, made the show. There is a precedent for decades so that non -Americans lead the Super Bowl. Although, again, the rapid geography lesson: Puerto Rico is part of the United States and Puerto Ricans are US citizens.
Detractors like Lewandowski and Johnson want to make English the second language of Bad Bunny, an accusation of their patriotism, as if growing speaking English is a criterion for citizenship. It is not and has never been. Perhaps instead of using its platform to stir fear at a time when calm is needed, the two could see next February show as an opportunity to grow. Because, honestly, it is so counterproductive to allow influential voices to have gas light to the country to forget the milestones that are already crossed. “The Bamba” of the Lobos was sung in Spanish and hit the number 1 almost 40 years ago. The only English in the success of K-Pop “Gangnam Style” is “Hey, Sexy Lady”, and that song made PSY an international sensation.
Instead of making people fear Spanish in the Super Bowl, maybe I encourage this NFL season to learn something beyond “thank you.” Because in this world, there are people who choose to speak in English and there are people who have no choice. Only one of those scenarios feels like me for me.
That was the topic of discussion in the summer of 2008 after then. Barack Obama said this in a campaign stopped in Georgia: “Understand this, instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, they will learn English, make sure that your child can speak Spanish. You must be thinking about how your child can become bilingual.”
At that time, many conservatives, such as Tucker Carlson and Lou Dobbs, used those comments not as a warning to discuss the merits of Obama's comments regarding US education but as a weapon to attack him. They accused him of being divisive, when years ago Nelson Mandela said when you talk to someone “in his own language, that goes to his heart.” In fact, Dobbs said: “Instead of diversity, he is talking about factionalism.” Nonsense that are very similar to the echoes we listen to today by Lewandowski and Johnson.
It is not just a matter of whether our children should be bilingual; It is also about feeling curious about the world we live in. This NFL season has already presented games in Ireland and Brazil. Mexico City is an annual event. The league is in it for the bag. And eventually there will be a team abroad where Spanish is heard, visiting teams carry passports and Bad Bunny is no stranger.
YouTube: @Lzgrandershow
