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Key Points Fans are learning Spanish to sing along with Bad Bunny ahead of his 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. A right-wing petition pushing to replace him with country star George Strait nears 100,000 signatures. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell defends the choice, calling Bad Bunny “one of the leading and most popular entertainers.” Bad Bunny fans are taking things up a notch as a petition to have him replaced at the Super Bowl by George Strait continues to gain traction. Niklaus Miller has been a longtime supporter of Bad Bunny and when he learned that the 31-year-old Puerto Rico native was headlining the 2026 Super Bowl, he couldn’t have been more excited. The only problem was he didn’t know how to speak Spanish, the language all of the pop star’s songs are in. “I was like, ‘Nik, you need to learn these songs!’” Miller, 29, said in an interview with People published on Tuesday, October 28. “I thought it would be fun to post videos, make people laugh and let them follow along with my progress. It felt authentic, like one of my wild ideas.” RELATED: Hollywood Legend, 93, Weighs in on Bad Bunny Super Bowl Controversy He’s continued to share his progress in a series of TikTok videos and over the last few weeks, the support for his mission has been overwhelming. “So many people — native Spanish speakers and Bad Bunny fans — reached out with tips, pronunciation tricks and words of encouragement,” Miller told the outlet. “It’s been amazing. I’m still trying to balance responding to everyone because I’m genuinely so grateful for the support and help people are offering.” While Miller is one of many in support of Bad Bunny showcasing his talent at the big game, a right-wing petition to oust him as the performer continues to gain traction. Almost 100,000 people have endorsed a petition to have country singer Strait, 73, perform instead. The petition titled “Replace Bad Bunny with George Strait for the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show” and hosted on Change.org, described Strait as someone who “embodies the heart and soul of American music” and said that “the halftime show should unite our country, honor American culture, and remain family-friendly, not be turned into a political stunt.” It went on to criticize Bad Bunny for his performance style for being the “opposite of what families expect.” Of course, past halftime acts have included Janet Jackson’s infamous wardrobe malfunction, Adam Levine shirtless and tattooed mid-thrust, and the Rolling Stones shouting about satisfaction on live TV. And while critics grumble that Bad Bunny isn’t “American enough,” the Super Bowl has previously featured international icons like Shakira, Coldplay, The Weeknd and even the British rockers of The Who without any patriotic panic. Bad Bunny, meanwhile, has made it clear that he doesn’t tailor his art to appease anyone. “I do what feels true to me,” he said in a 2023 Vanity Fair interview. “That’s always been my thing.” Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, recently spoke out in defense of the “Un Verano Sin Ti” singer. “He’s one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world,” Goodell said during the NFL’s fall meeting, per ESPN. “That’s what we try to achieve. It’s an important stage for us. It’s an important element to the entertainment value. It’s carefully thought through.” RELATED: Every Celebrity Who’s Cheering On Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show “I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. That’s hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching,” he continued. “But I feel confident that it’s going to be a great show. He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be an exciting and uniting moment.”
