BAD BUNNY?
A New Week Begins 2-8-26
(Ruth… Somewhere in Texas, where everything is bigger)
Every year about this time, the cultural weather forecast calls for a familiar storm: Opinions about the Super Bowl halftime show.
This year it’s worse than usual, with some folks apparently furious at the idea of a Latino artist, Bad Bunny from Puerto Rico, stepping out onto that massive stage and singing in Spanish.
As for myself, I don’t really care about who watches the halftime show or not, or whether Bad Bunny’s music is their cup of tea. Remote in hand? Change the channel. Grab more guac. No harm, no foul.
But the visceral anger, especially when it seems aimed less at music and more at the way someone looks, has been getting under my… you know.
What makes this latest outrage especially puzzling is how selective our memories can be. The Super Bowl has a long and proud tradition of featuring performers who were not born in the continental United States, and somehow, we all survived just fine. Here’s just a few of the examples I found…
“Shakira (Colombia) danced her way across the field. Rihanna (born in Barbados) commanded the stage. The Weeknd (Canada) moonwalked through a funhouse. Coldplay (England) and U2 (Ireland) brought stadium-sized guitars and accents to spare.”
There were no mass calls for an “alternative halftime show” then. Funny how that works. When the performers were white, the passports didn’t seem to matter nearly as much.
Then there’s the small but not‑so‑minor detail about Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is not a foreign country, it is a U.S. territory. They serve in the U.S. military and carry U.S. passports.
So, whether some people want to admit it or not, when Bad Bunny sings in Spanish, he isn’t rejecting America, he is just one more American expressing one of the many languages and cultures that has always been a part of America.
I am lucky to be married to a woman who grew up on the border between Texas and Mexico in a small town called San Juan. Her father was a Lutheran pastor who was fluent in English, German and Spanish.
He preached all of his sermons in Spanish and was eventually asked by the Lutheran church to establish and oversee a school devoted to training people from Mexico, Central America and South America as Lutheran pastors.
Because this broadened Ruth’s perspective of the world it probably won’t surprise you that she actually has more interest in this year’s half time show than the actual game.
The other day I took a few of the other qualities about Ruth that makes her unique, just to see how this latest online trend would make her look.
Although she is definitely a native Texan, she also has this undeniable Ricky Martin, Livin’ la Vida Loca vibe. You know…
“She’s into superstitions, black cats and voodoo dolls. I feel a premonition, that girl’s gonna make me fall.”
The deeper issue, of course, that continues to affect our entire country as well as each of us is the temptation of so many to shrink our world until only what feels familiar is allowed in. That kind of fear makes life smaller, duller, and meaner.
Speaking of thoughtless, heartless, mean spirited racism… I still have a hard time processing the fact that the president of the United States just shared a racist video depicting one of our former presidents and his wife, Barack & Michelle Obama, as apes.
Fortunately, everywhere I look, we are better than that.
The American story at its best is that our lives get richer when we take a beat, unclench our fists, and open our minds and hearts to the possibility that people from different backgrounds, places, and cultures can make us better.
And you know what? That idea is not just patriotic…. It’s biblical. Scripture keeps nudging us toward a bigger table. One of my favorites is this vision from Revelation.
“A great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne.”
Please know, if you plan to skip the halftime show, no judgment here. Ruth and I will probably tune in, and not because everyone should, but because joy, humor, and curiosity feel like better traveling companions than outrage.
Plus, I genuinely appreciate what Bad Bunny had to say during the Grammys last weekend…
As always, wishing all of us a week filled with far less outrage and much more Peace, Love & Music!
Johnny B ++
Postscript
As for the big game itself, I’ll be rooting for the Seattle Seahawks, and for those who will be hearing me preach today at Shepherd of Life, you’ll get to hear why it has to do with the last three popes!
As for Ruth, she’s looking forward to wearing this shirt that she just ordered!
Very well put! And your Ruth represents the best in us all and does so with her great smile!.
When my family moved back to the states in 61 after 3 yrs in Germany we travel from San Antonio to rural Louisiana to visit relatives. I was 11. Had come from a school on a military base where we had all varied race backgrounds. So we stop at a Texaco station for a potty break in Louisiana and I had to choose between "white" or " colored" bathroom. I chose colored. When I got back in the car I asked my parents why they called it colored when the walls were painted white? My parents said that was proof that racism has to be taught and they hoped my sister and i would be able to grow up as adults where we never had to explain it to our future children.
Sadly some laws changed but so may people are still so stuck in the not- so-brightly painted colored bathroom.
Go SeaHawks! Go human race!
Thanks, John, for your stand for acceptance and diversity. We get so much from our friends who are not white skinned. Just look at those top two football teams playing today! Actually when I saw your heading I thought you might be writing about my big European bunny I raised as a kid, Big Foot Wallace. Remember, he was really bad, kicking dogs in the face if they ventured too close. Now that thought really dates me, but I'll be watching the real Bad Bunny today, and cheering for those Seahawks, no matter what color skin the Good Lord blessed them with!