As Dangerous Bunny continues to keep away from the continental US on his world tour out of fears of ICE raids, information that he’ll be headlining the Tremendous Bowl LX halftime present has been met with a livid backlash from MAGA influencers who’ve complained that he “doesn’t sing in English” and has been vital of Donald Trump.
The controversy has escalated past social media with Corey Lewandowski, adviser to Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem, threatening the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the occasion to detain and deport undocumented immigrants. “There’s nowhere which you could present protected haven to people who find themselves on this nation illegally. Not the Tremendous Bowl and nowhere else,” he instructed right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson on The Benny Present. “We’ll discover you. We’ll apprehend you. We’ll put you in a detention facility and we are going to deport you, so know that that could be a very actual state of affairs below this administration.”
The episode exposes the anatomy of manufactured outrage and as soon as once more positions America’s largest sporting occasion as a battleground for the nation’s id politics.
The information, confirmed by the NFL late Sunday evening, shortly grew to become gasoline for the controversy engine working full-time on platforms like X. Inside hours, a refrain of right-wing commentators and influencers activated a now-familiar script. Johnson branded him “a large Trump hater” and an “anti-ICE activist.” Jack Posobiec, a distinguished Pizzagate promoter, took purpose at Jay-Z, whose firm Roc Nation produces the occasion, because the architect of cultural “engineering.” The “Finish Wokeness” account, with 4 million followers, resorted to visible mockery, posting a picture of the artist in a costume in response to the announcement.
These assaults are usually not random; they’re textbook techniques of a tradition battle that seeks to mobilize its base by figuring out a symbolic enemy. On this case, Dangerous Bunny. Not solely is he an artist who sings predominantly in Spanish—a indisputable fact that influencer Mario Nawfal countered by saying that the “common halftime viewer in Des Moines doesn’t communicate fluent reggaeton”—however his activism is specific, constant and instantly antagonistic to the ideological platform of American conservatism.
Dangerous Bunny is unapologetically political
The hostility in the direction of Dangerous Bunny shouldn’t be rooted in his music, however in his message. His choice to not tour in america, out of a acknowledged concern that his followers will probably be focused by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, is a political assertion that few stars dare to make. “Individuals from the US may come right here to see the present. Latinos and Puerto Ricans of america may additionally journey right here, or to any a part of the world. However there was the problem of—like, fucking ICE could possibly be exterior [my concert]. And it’s one thing that we have been speaking about and really involved about,” he stated in an interview with i-D journal.
This stance transforms his live shows from mere leisure occasions into potential sanctuaries, and his absence into an act of protest.
Dangerous Bunny has been an outspoken critic of Puerto Rico’s standing as an unincorporated territory, which limits the rights and alternatives of its residents. His activism has centered on supporting the island, the place his 31-day residency generated a $400 million financial impression, in line with an estimate from Wells Fargo.