Bad Bunny halftime show meaning, explained: Puerto Rican history lesson, unity and more from Super Bowl 60 message

By | February 9, 2026
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Bad Bunny headlined the Super Bowl 60 halftime show on Sunday night.

And like his predecessor, Kendrick Lamar, the Puerto Rican artist delivered a performance replete with political, economic and social messaging.

Bad Bunny — real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — wears a lot of hats. On Sunday, he added some more. He was a football player, a dancer and an advocate for Puerto Rican independence. Above all else, though, he was a story-teller, weaving tales of Puerto Rico and Latin America’s past to create something memorable. From San Juan to Crown Heights, his influence — and the influences of those that shaped him — was evident.

With that, here’s what you need to know about all the hidden messaging behind Bad Bunny’s performance at the Super Bowl 60 halftime show. 

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What was Bad Bunny’s halftime show about?

Bad Bunny’s halftime show featured dozens of messages. Some were clear, while others required closer examination. Environmental lawyer and Bad Bunny enthusiast Becky Hammer detailed the symbols — hidden and otherwise — throughout the 13-minute spectacle.

Sugar cane fields

The story started in sugarcane fields. “King” sugar has long been considered an absolute monarch in Latin America’s economy, writes Eduardo Galeano in his 1971 book, “Open Veins of Latin America.” The harrowing stalks, like other “agricultural monarchs”, scarred Puerto Rico’s landscape. Monoculture plantations were promoted for cheap export by imperial powers. U.S. investors were perhaps the biggest proponents of the relationship, which forced sovereign lands across Latin America to become completely reliant on the export of one raw material — deliberately underdeveloping Latin American economies.

“‘A people that entrusts its subsistence to one product commits suicide’” Galeano wrote, citing Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti (page 69).

“For countries like Cuba, that remained dependent on sugar-based monoculture, a legacy of colonialism was their precarious economic alignment with world market prices that fluctuated with supply and demand,” Stephen McCloskey wrote for the Centre for Global Education in 2021.

A guitarist was outfitted in a pava, a straw hat made from leaves of the Puerto Rican hat palm. The garment has been a steady presence in Bad Bunny’s work and is seen as a symbol for the jíbaro, Puerto Rican farmers who live in the countryside and embrace self-subsistence.

Little Puerto Rico

The symbols continued to flow as Bad Bunny skipped and sauntered around Little Puerto Rico. He was greeted by a coconut salesman and a group of older men playing dominoes. The game is widely considered a national pastime in Puerto Rico. It came to Puerto Rico via Spanish caravels in the 19th century, The Boricua Outlet reported. By the time the Spaniards ceded the island to the United States after defeat in the Spanish-American War, dominoes were already a formative part of Puerto Rican social life.

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The hits kept on coming as Bad Bunny traipsed through Puerto Rico’s streets. There were nail techs and piraguas, Puerto Rico’s answer for snow cones.

Boxers Emiliano Vargas and Xander Zayas traded blows as Bad Bunny waded beneath them, a reference to the island’s influence on pugilism.

What is La Casita?

“La Casita” took hold of the stage, a colorful dwelling that pays homage to the vibrant houses that line Puerto Rico’s streets. The house was a fixture in Bad Bunny’s 31-concert residency in Puerto Rico. Latin celebrities filled the house’s porch, with Cardi B, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Pedro Pascal all making cameo appearances.

“You’re listening to music from PR, from the barrios and the villages,” Bad Bunny crooned as “EoO” spilled from stadium speakers.

Reggaeton soon took center stage, with a medley of notable reggaeton tunes — including Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” and Tego Calderon’s “Pa’ Que Retozen” — drawing attention. Dancers pranced along Bad Bunny as he stood atop a pickup truck. Included in the mix was a lengthy shot of two men grinding on one another, an apparent nod to Bad Bunny’s support for the LGBTQ community in Puerto Rico and abroad.

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Sapo Concho — the Puerto Rican crested toad who served dutifully as the mascot for Bad Bunny’s latest album, “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” — made a cameo on the jumbotron. The amphibian is an endangered species, suffering from the ongoing climate crisis that has already disproportionately impacted Puerto Rico over the past few years.

As Bad Bunny strolled through the streets, he was greeted by another familiar figure — a child, sleeping through the wedding scene.

Bad Bunny spotlights New York Puerto Rican icon Tonita

He took a slight detour following the wedding, trading San Juan for New York — which features the largest population of Puerto Ricans outside of the island.

Dancers are clad in traditional Nuyorican street outfits. A Puerto Rican flag billows through a window, marked by its light blue triangle. The banner is a significant one; its affiliated with the Puerto Rican independence movement. Puerto Rico’s political status has been a topic of discussion in recent decades, with recent plebiscites broadly indicating that Puerto Ricans support statehood or independence with free association. That support is nuanced; the prospect of U.S. citizenship and all the perks it can bring is appealing to some. However, Bad Bunny is one of the loudest proponents for Puerto Rican independence.

Included in the mix of dancers is a woman vending drinks. She is Maria Antonia Clay (better known as Toñita), owner of the esteemed Caribbean Social Club in Brooklyn. As Hammer notes, this site is a place of refuge and joy for Latino populations across New York City.

Who did Bad Bunny give his Grammy to?

Bad Bunny handed his Grammy trophy to a child as he made his way through the maze of bodies that unfolded in front of him. Some believed the moment featured Liam Conejo Ramos, the five-year old detained by ICE in Columbia Heights, Minnesota in January. That wasn’t the case: event organizers confirmed the child, played by Lincoln Fox, represented Bad Bunny as a child. Nevertheless, the image contributed to the spectacle’s symbolism.

What did Ricky Martin sing?

That symbolism continued as Ricky Martin delivered a rendition of “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii”, Bad Bunny’s dirge about the prospect of Puerto Rican statehood. Martin was sat atop plastic chairs that were positioned eerily similar to those of the ones featured on the “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” album cover. He was surrounded by banana trees, another “agricultural monarch” of Latin America.

El Apagon shines light on electricity issues

Bad Bunny made a pointed message to Puerto Rico’s electrical issues while performing “El Apagon” — “The Blackout” in English. As Hammer notes, blackouts — exacerbated by recent hurricanes — aren’t merely natural phenomena. Rather, they’re political crises, too. The “El Apagon” music video highlights some of the factors that influenced the blackouts.

What did Bad Bunny football say?

The Puerto Rican independence flag continues to billow as Bad Bunny reaches his crescendo, which sees him shout out América — every country that makes up South, Central and North America. Contrary to the belief of those living in the United States, América is not merely the U.S. The football he was carrying bore a similar message: “Together, We Are America.”

He was backed by the dulcet tones of Los Pleneros de la Cresta, a group of plena performers working to introduce the sound of Puerto Rico to the next generation.

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