Although Bad Bunny didn't mention ICE during the Super Bowl halftime show, he might have made several subtle political references throughout.
The Puerto Rican artist, who said 'ICE out' after accepting his album of the year award at the Grammys, had a slightly different message during his 14-minute set on Sunday.
Bad Bunny, real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, made a statement about the importance of diversity and listed the names of all countries in North and South America.
The only thing he said in English was 'God bless America', paired with a billboard that read: "The only thing more powerful than hate is love."
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On the surface, he promoted a message of American unity; however, some believe that his performance included messages about slavery, Puerto Rican history, and electrical blackouts.
The sugar cane slave trade
When the 'MONACO' hitmaker performed 'Tití Me Preguntó', it was staged in a faux sugar cane field, which may have been a nod to the slave trade.
"The history of sugar slavery runs deep throughout the Southern states, the Caribbean, and parts of South America," Dr Allison Wiltz explained on X.
"His performance was brilliant, thought provoking, well executed."
"Keep it mind my grandfather was a Louisiana sugar sharecropper during Jim Crow, and his father an enslaved worker who harvested cane before you respond with foolishness," she added.
According to the Minority Rights Group, Afro-Puerto Ricans were made to work in sugar plantations and gold mines, with Puerto Rico becoming one of the biggest exporters of sugar, coffee, cotton, and tobacco through slave labour, until slavery was abolished in the country in 1873.
Light blue Puerto Rican flag
You may also have noticed him waving around a Puerto Rican flag with a lighter blue shade. This light blue colour is said to be associated with Puerto Rico's pro–independence movement.
Bad Bunny alluded to the flag before in 'La Mudanza', where he sings: "Here they killed people for showing the flag/That's why I bring it everywhere I want now."
Puerto Rico's former gag law made it illegal to own the island's flag from 1948 until 1957.
Electricity issues
The stage design included imagery of exploding power grids, which could be interpreted as a nod to Puerto Rico's ongoing power outages.
Widespread blackouts are fairly common and are an issue he has addressed during his 2022 mini-documentary El Apagón.
Translating to 'power outage' in English, they tend to worsen after hurricanes in the Caribbean.
Hurricane Maria in 2017 caused power grid issues for months, while Hurricane Fiona in 2022 disabled 100 per cent of the grid for weeks.
However, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Puerto Ricans experienced an average of 27 hours of power grid interruption per year between 2021 and 2024, without hurricanes.
"My motherland, Puerto Rico," Bad Bunny said before he closed the show with a tribute.
And in case you missed it, 'together we are America' was the message written on the American football held to the camera.
Topics: Bad Bunny, Super Bowl, Celebrity
Anish Vij