The View hosts have cleverly challenged the online backlash surrounding the NFL’s selection of Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny as the 2026 Super Bowl halftime performer.
On Sunday, it was announced that the Latin trap star, 31, would be taking center stage at next year’s annual football championship game happening February 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
The news immediately left prominent MAGA figures outraged, with many of them labeling the “Dákiti” singer a “massive Trump hater” and an “anti-ICE activist.” Some also slammed him for having “no songs in English.”
“Now, you know, he previously refused to do it, a national tour here in the U.S., because of the I.C.E. raids,” Whoopi Goldberg said on Monday’s broadcast of the daytime talk show, “but wrote in a post, ‘I’ve been thinking about it and after discussions with my team, I think I’ll just do one date in the united States, and…this is for my people, my culture and our history.’”
She further noted that he has a “history of speaking out against you-know-who,” referring to President Donald Trump.
Whoopi Goldberg (left) addressed the outrage over the NFL announcing Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny (right) would be headlining the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.
“So a lot of the MAGA folks apparently are very upset with the NFL. But they’re upset all the time,” Goldberg argued, before cheekily acknowledging, “And, you know…another great American performer is going to be performing. I don’t see the problem. Because y’all do remember Puerto Rico is part of the United States. Not that I thought you didn’t remember but I do like to remind folks.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin jumped in, adding: “Thank you! Yes, it is.
“There are people online that are like, ‘Why couldn’t they have chosen an American?’” she continued, in an exaggerated American accent.
“Oh, they did, though,” Hostin mocked. “He is truly an artist activist, and we haven’t seen that for quite some time, I think, and this is the time for that.”
Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, is an outspoken liberal activist. In 2023, he was honored with GLAAD’s Vanguard Award for his allyship to the LGBTQ+ community and for using his platform to support transgender rights.
Meanwhile, he recently revealed that he didn’t include the U.S. mainland on his 2025-2026 tour over fears that Immigration, Customs and Enforcement agents “could be outside” his concert venues.
“People from the U.S. could come here to see the show,” the artist said, referring to Puerto Rico. “Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world,” he told i-D magazine. “But there was the issue that f***ing ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
The View’s Ana Navarro additionally insisted that “these MAGA people always think that everything is about them. The NFL is…investing a lot in trying to increase fandom all over the world because, you know, it’s something that is American — football. They’ve been playing games in Brazil, playing games in London…Bad Bunny is an international superstar.”
Co-host Alyssa Farrah Griffin suggested that the NFL could bring in “any surprise acts to offset anyone who is, like, ‘I have no idea who this guy is.’ Or even do sort of a genre crossover — throw in like a country artist and see what you do.”
Bad Bunny, one of the world’s most-streamed artists, teased his forthcoming Super Bowl appearance in an Instagram video shared Sunday.
The clip showed the singer sitting atop a football goalpost on the beach. “Super Bowl LX. Bay Area. February 2026,” the caption read.
“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” he added in a statement. “It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown… this is for my people, my culture, and our history. Ve y dile a tu abuela, que seremos el HALFTIME SHOW DEL SUPER BOWL.”
