By Megan Cartwright

Copyright newsweek

Whoopi Goldberg’s comments about Bad Bunny’s forthcoming Super Bowl halftime show have sparked anger among President Donald Trump’s supporters.

Newsweek reached out to Goldberg and Bad Bunny’s representatives via email for comment on Wednesday.

Why It Matters

The selection of Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny as the headliner for the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show has intensified cultural and political divides in the United States. The announcement has triggered pushback from conservative commentators and MAGA-aligned social media users, who criticize the artist’s Spanish-language catalog and outspoken political stances. Recent remarks by Goldberg on ABC’s The View about the controversy, and about the political response to his selection, have fueled renewed debate about identity, inclusion and the cultural direction of one of America’s marquee sports events.

What To Know

On September 28, the NFL announced Bad Bunny would headline the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The announcement was met with immediate criticism from conservative commentators, many identifying with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, who lamented the choice of an artist with no English-language hits, and with a history of opposing immigration enforcement efforts, specifically U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

During Monday’s episode of The View, Goldberg took aim at Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, who said on Benny Johnson’s podcast The Benny Show that ICE would be “all over” the event in light of Bad Bunny’s performance.

(L) Whoopi Goldberg attends “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” on February 16, 2025 in New York City. (R) Bad Bunny attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2023 in New York City.

“Everybody, get a little cocoa butter, sit in the sun, that’s the first thing,” Goldberg, 69, said. “And this is the only time you can probably ever do this: Give yourself a Latin accent and just see if [Noem] can tell who’s who.”

Bad Bunny—whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio—addressed the backlash on Saturday Night Live, stating in English: “I’m very excited to be doing the Super Bowl, and I know that people all around the world who love my music are also happy.”

He then switched to Spanish, adding: “Especially all the Latinos and Latinas across the world, and here, in the United States, all those who have worked to open doors. It’s more than an achievement for myself, it’s an achievement for all of us. It shows our footprint, and our contribution to this country, that no one will ever be able to take away or erase.”

Speaking in English once again, Bad Bunny added: “And if you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.”

What People Are Saying

Conservative podcast host Benny Johnson wrote in a post on X with 2.6 million views and 7,900 likes: “No, I’m not making this up … Whoopi Goldberg just reacted to our reporting on ICE being at Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show by encouraging attendees to slather on cocoa butter, bake in the sun, and adopt a Latin accent so ICE can’t tell anyone apart.”

Political commentator Megyn Kelly said on X in a note with 1.5 million views and 52,000 likes: “I hear this is racist.”

Tomi Lahren Is Fearless host Tomi Lahren blasted Goldberg on her show on Tuesday: “So what Whoopi just said there is that you should practice blackface and then you should speak with a Spanish accent so that Kristi Noem and DHS can’t tell if you are an American or an illegal alien. That’s where we are, folks. And yet they want to call the Republicans, the conservatives, the racists. Well, you know, I’ve heard a lot of stuff from the ladies of The View, but at least for this week, that one might take the cake.”

Meanwhile, The View co-host Sunny Hostin defended Bad Bunny’s selection: “There are people online that are like, ‘Why couldn’t they have chosen an American?’ Oh, they did, though … 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.”

What Happens Next

Bad Bunny will headline Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026.