Jay-Z rejects Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl wrath
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Legendary rapper Jay-Z has come out in defense of Bad Bunny amid controversy over the Puerto Rican recording artist’s exploitation of performing at the Super Bowl LX halftime show.
Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation co-produces the NFL’s halftime show and reportedly makes the final decision on the headliner each year. This year, the casting of Bad Bunny sparked opposition from fans.
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Bad Bunny performs on the Coachella stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., Friday, April 21, 2023. (Jay Calderon/Desert Sun/USA Today Network)
But Jay-Z wasn’t buying the anger.
“They love it. Don’t let them fool you,” he said. TMZ Sports Monday night.
Jay-Z didn’t go any further, telling a TMZ reporter that he “didn’t have any scoops for you.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defended Bad Bunny’s casting, despite the Grammy winner’s comments about US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the past year.
“It was carefully thought out,” Goodell said of the decision-making process for the halftime show. “I’m not sure we picked an artist where we didn’t have some backlash or criticism. It’s very difficult to do that when you have hundreds of millions of people watching that.”
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Bad Bunny, whose birth name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, has come under fire from President Donald Trump and his supporters for his public comments about the president and his administration. The 31-year-old expressed concerns about Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is why he decided to stay in his native Puerto Rico to avoid a stopover in the United States.
He said last month that he had not booked any US dates on his tour due to fears his fans would be arrested by ICE agents.
“But there was a problem, like ICE was outside [my concert]. “This is something we’ve been talking about and are very concerned about,” he told i-D.
Bad Bunny also recorded and posted a video of what he described as local ICE raids on social media in Puerto Rico.
“Look, these mothers are in these cars, the RAV-4s. They’re here in Pontezuela,” he said in Spanish, referring to the ICE company that operates on Avenida Pontezuela in Carolina, a city east of Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell looks on during a press conference at Caesars Superdome on February 03, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana before the NFL Super Bowl LIX football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Some NFL fans took issue not only with those comments, but with all of his hit songs being sung in Spanish. But Goodell has no concerns about the exposure he expects from Bad Bunny.
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“We are confident it will be a great show,” Goodell said. “He understands the platform he’s on, and I think it’s going to be an exciting and unifying moment.”
Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.
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