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The hoopla continues over Bad Bunny’s upcoming Super Bowl halftime performance. According to Entertainment Weekly, a petition has begun on Change.org to swap the Puerto Rican superstar for country singer George Strait. The petition, started by someone named “Kar Shell,” has more than 50,000 signatures and encourages the NFL to pull Bad Bunny, 31, from the 2026 broadcast — perpetually the most-watched event on network television — and replace the popular entertainer with Strait, who is 73 and dubbed the “King of Country Music” by fans of the genre. The petition complains that the Halftime Show “has leaned increasingly towards modern pop and international artists. While this approach certainly broadens the audience, it’s pivotal to remember the roots that have made American music what it is today.” Earlier this month, Bad Bunny addressed the controversy while hosting Saturday Night Live, saying during his monologue, “You may not know this but I’m doing the Super Bowl Halftime Show. I’m very happy and I think everyone is very happy about it! Even Fox News…” He added: “Really, I’m very excited to be doing the Super Bowl and I know people all around the world who love my music are also happy.” After briefly speaking in Spanish, he quipped: “If you didn’t understand now what I just said, you have four months to learn!” Jennifer Lopez praised Bad Bunny during an October 6 interview on the Today show. “I think he’s about to blow everybody’s mind,” Lopez, 56, predicted of his Super Bowl spot. “It’s an introduction to some people.” She said she hadn’t heard of any backlash against him until host Craig Melvin mentioned it. “I swear I don’t know,” she said. “Why? But why? I don’t understand that. He’s one of the top artists in the world right now, probably the top.” When Melvin, 46, explained that some critics think a different artist should perform during football’s biggest night, Lopez responded, “It could be a lot of different people. That’s the thing. I’m super-excited for people to see him. I think they’ll be pleasantly surprised, because his music transcends language. It’s amazing what he’s done. He’s done something that a lot of people have never done in their life.” The day that Lopez appeared on the NBC morning show, President Donald Trump criticized Bad Bunny and the NFL in a Newsmax interview. “I never heard of him,” he claimed. “I don’t know who he is, I don’t know why they’re doing it, it’s crazy, and then they blame it on some promoter that they hired to pick up entertainment, I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.” The next day, Bad Bunny was spotted sitting behind home plate at Yankee Stadium, watching the New York Yankees play the Toronto Blue Jays. In the second inning, a foul ball flew up into the air and landed right in his lap. He smiled and raised the ball, and the crowd went wild. One fan on X marveled at the moment, writing, “Even the baseballs wanna collab with him now 😎🎤.”
