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Game over (for the Bad Bunny haters)
Adrian Horton Photograph: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation
Well, I could not tell you a thing about that game – I’ve heard that it was a boring outcome for a boring match-up – but it does not matter: the real winner tonight was Bad Bunny, who delivered a raucous, intricate and wildly ambitious half-time show that exceeded already sky-high expectations. With the world watching and many in the US government actively rooting against him (you can guess who took to Truth Social already), the Puerto Rican artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio thoroughly stomped on the haters with an exuberant 13-minute show that both honored his roots and championed an expansive view of American unity.
It’s hard to overstate how much pressure Bad Bunny was under, as the first all Spanish-language half-time performer at a time when the US government is profiling Spanish speakers for its brutal immigration enforcement campaign. But Benito made the whole affair feel light as a feather, from the sugar cane fields to the bodegas to the rollicking casita party to a full-on real wedding (and surprise duet with Latino pop trailblazer Ricky Martin). Truly, this set was exquisite. While there was certainly political critique – catch that CONEJO sign, or the statement of flying a Puerto Rican flag next to a US one – the overarching message was unifying: “Together, We Are America,” read the football he lofted, victorious, above his head.
It was an undeniable high point in a night otherwise missing them – the ads were starry as ever, though eerily oriented more towards AI and weight-loss drugs than your usual Ford F-150 Americana. So it goes in the year 2026, when major cultural faultlines lie at every turn. And with that, we’re off to check on Benito’s mysteriously wiped Instagram…
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And here’s a five-star review of tonight’s electric half-time show:
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Updated at 23.29 EST
Benjamin Lee
Some of the best moments from tonight here:
ShareBenjamin Lee Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
“What a beautiful and extraordinary thing, Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl reminding the US who they are and where they are,” The Secret Agent director Kleber Mendonça Filho wrote on Instagram.
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Updated at 23.30 EST
Benjamin Lee Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
“Thank you @sanbenito for taking the California stage and using your voice at #SuperBowl LX. A beautiful moment! Together, we are America,” wrote Gavin Newsom on X.
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Updated at 23.26 EST
Owen Myers
Bad Bunny, Little Monster for life
Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga perform at the Super Bowl halftime show at Levi’s Stadium. Photograph: Chris Torres/EPA
You’d be forgiven for being a little confused by Bad Bunny’s choice to bring out Lady Gaga for his centerpiece guest tonight, but he’s been a devoted fan since day one. Exhibit A: Voting while wearing a Chromatica shirt in 2020. Exhibit B: Sitting court side at the game while sporting Rain On Me rain boots. Exhibit C: Rocking Joanne merch back in 2017.
The respect is mutual. When asked this week if she had any advice for Benito ahead of his halftime show Gaga said, “Honestly, I don’t think he needs any from me. He knows who he is, and that’s the only thing that matters when you step onto that stage. All he has to do is be the beautiful person he already is, and the world will feel his heart.”
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John Krasinski is a reckless driver
If you’re an actor who used to star in the Office US, then you’re pretty much guaranteed a steady stream of Super Bowl ad money until you die. Not that John Krasinski, Quiet Place director and Jack Ryan gun-toter, really needs it but here’s an easy beach house downpayment anyway: the actor selling a Hyundai with the promise that it’ll make you think you’re in an action movie.
ShareAdrian Horton
AI ads are car ads now
Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters
No, you’re not imagining it – the AI ads were non-stop this year. What has been a trickle in years past is now a full-on flood, with spots nearly every break for AI products, taking up space like car companies used to.
From Google’s Gemini to Matthew Broderick for Genspark, Microsoft’s AI assistant Copilot and those Oakley x Meta “Performance AI glasses” (lol), and of course warring ads from rivals Anthropic and OpenAI…it’s just inescapable now. And I won’t even speak of Svedka’s deliberately creepy AI-generated ad. Welcome to the future! Who else is feeling a pervasive sense of dread?
ShareBenjamin Lee Photograph: Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images
“Incredible Half time show Bad Bunny,” wrote Ben Stiller on X.
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Updated at 23.26 EST
Owen Myers
Kellogg’s go for scatological warfare
The Raisin Bran ad is one long poop joke starring William Shatner rechristened as Will Shat, a kind of patron saint of restroom regularity. It’s stupid, childish, and often pretty funny, with Shatner appearing at a tailgate and sports bar to get people to switch their buffalo wings for Raisin Bran.
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The annual Scientology ad…
Well, here we go again. Every year, the, um, “Church of Scientology” appeals to viewers via vague, would-be inspirational cliches and soaring music, and this year is no different. Here we get an “anthem” for “the great untapped power in this universe: you”…followed by a nudge to check out their website. Or maybe Alex Gibney’s 2015 doc Going Clear?
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“I don’t know what Bad Bunny is saying, however, I do know he is standing up for Puerto Rico and I am standing up for him. His half time show was great,” wrote John Mellencamp.
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He’s just Ken (and he just wants a vacation)
A bit of a baffling one here. Expedia has decided to use Ken, yes the Ken, to promote the ease of its product, but the ad never really explains why or does all that much with him (despite promoting it with a People exclusive interview!). He’s just Ken but frankly here, he could be anyone.
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Owen Myers
Hold the mayo!
Andy Samberg dressed as Neil Diamond and singing “I’ll squirt you while I’m walking by”… Sir, this is a family show.
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Owen Myers
The half-time show featured nearly 10,000 pyrotechnics
Fireworks at the end of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time performance. Photograph: Brynn Anderson/AP
Wired have broken down the hurdles of transforming the Levi’s Stadium field into Bad Bunny’s half-time stage, and it’s a fascinating insight into the spectacle. Due to rules limiting the amount of equipment carts allowed onto the field, producers came up with the idea of having nearly 380 people become sugar cane and other kinds of foliage. The team had only a few weeks to figure out how to bring Bad Bunny’s vision to life. “It was very dramatic and intense,” says half-time show co-producer Bruce Rodgers. That intensity was topped off by 9852 pyrotechnics, with fireworks that lit up the sky with huge Puerto Rican flags.
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Updated at 23.32 EST
