When asked why the NFL chose Bad Bunny at an October 22 press conference, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell answered, “He’s one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world. 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.”
Goodell added that the NFL is not going to cancel Bad Bunny’s performance due to the backlash.
“I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to do when you have hundreds of millions of people that are watching. But we’re confident it’s going to be a great show.”
Clearly the NFL didn’t hire Bad Bunny by accident, and executives knew there would be some right-wing backlash. As Wired’s Anna Lagos put it, this was “a calculated business move and a continuation of its strategy to rejuvenate and diversify its audience.” Lagos explained:
The league is aware that its traditional viewership base is aging. Attracting younger audiences and the growing Hispanic market is a business imperative. Bad Bunny, the most listened-to artist on Spotify worldwide from 2020 to 2022, represents the key to accessing that global market.
The NFL’s partnership with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, launched in 2019, was designed to do just that: inject cultural relevance into the halftime show, an event that had become predictable and artistically safe. Kendrick Lamar’s acclaimed and politically charged performance in 2024, which used American symbolism to deliver a blunt critique of racism, demonstrated that the NFL is willing to take calculated risks if the result is cultural relevance and global conversation.
By choosing Bad Bunny, the NFL not only secures a global superstar, but also aligns itself with a narrative of inclusion and representation.
Jay-Z defended Bad Bunny to a TMZ photographer who asked on October 27, “Why are people hating on him?” Hov responded, “They love him. Don’t let them fool you.”
Source link
