On Sunday, half of our country (and our president) tuned in to watch Bad Bunny perform at the Super Bowl. To some, this was existentially concerning.
“This is America, why isn’t he singing in American,” asked an international student I was watching with, apparently earnestly. Setting aside the difficulties involved in inventing a new language, it’s an interesting question. He certainly wasn’t alone in this line of thinking. The forward-thinking people at TPUSA even pre-planned an alternative halftime show, for those who felt alienated (or hot and bothered?) by Benito.
The president called Bad Bunny’s show “an affront to the Greatness of America” (capitalization original). Much of his fanbase was inclined to agree. This is despite several glaring fallacies in the logic. For one, Bad Bunny is from Puerto Rico, which as of the time of writing is still part of America - both in the continental sense and the more narrow ‘Murican sense of the word. Since immigrating to the mainland, he has been the most streamed artist globally for four years. How’s that for American greatness?
But my issue with the attacks goes deeper. Why shouldn’t the 42 million Spanish-speaking Americans get to hear a halftime show in their own language? There have been 60, I think the rest of us can spare one. And Benito’s show was hardly divisive — he ended the show by spiking a football emblazoned with the words, “Together we are America.” But sure, it was a “slap in the face to America.”
Credit where it’s due, not all in MAGA World shared the sense of doom. Harrison Fields, a former press aide for Trump called out conservatives who labelled Bad Bunny anti-American, saying, “Last time I checked, my Puerto Rico–born grandmother was a full American citizen—and she voted for Trump.” Even Alexis Wilkins, a blossoming singer in her own right and girlfriend to the ever-surprised Kash Patel, praised Bad Bunny’s performance.
But still, I couldn’t help but thinking that the attacks meant something more too. No one had an issue when Chris Martin or Bono played the show, neither of whom are American. I wonder why. The Right’s response to Super Bowl LX vocalized a quiet truth about their new ideology: to be American is to be speak English. And this bothers me.
America has always been a land of immigrants. When we sit down to watch football, eat pizza and drink a beer we’re enjoying three things that didn’t come from white America. Football was popularized by Native Americans. Beer was primarily brought over by German immigrants. Pizza, of course, came from my own dirty foreign ancestors, the Italians. None of whom were considered American at the time.
Quite simply, the goalposts have moved on assimilation (terrible pun not intended). What was once foreign now forms the core of what it means to be American.
Of course the National Football League’s decision to book Benito largely reflects commercial realities. Hiring one of the western hemisphere’s most popular singers is good business. The show drew 128.2 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched performances in Super Bowl history. So, who’s to say we won’t all be singing Reggaeton in a few decades?