NEWYou can now listen to PK Press Club articles!
Legendary rapper Jay-Z has come to Bad Bunny’s defense amid controversy over the Puerto Rican artist being tapped to perform at the Super Bowl LX halftime show.
Jay-Z’s company, Roc Nation, co-produces the halftime show for the NFL and reportedly makes the final decision on the title each year. This year, the selection of Bad Bunny aroused reluctance from fans.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PK Press Club
Bad Bunny performs on the Coachella Stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California on Friday, April 21, 2023. (Jay Calderon/Desert Sun/USA TODAY NETWORK)
But Jay-Z didn’t believe in the outrage.
“They love him. Don’t let them fool you,” he told TMZ Sports Monday night.
Jay-Z didn’t go any further, telling the TMZ reporter that he “didn’t have any scoops for you.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defended Bad Bunny’s selection, despite the Grammy Award winner’s comments about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the past year.
“It’s carefully thought out,” Goodell said of the decision-making process for the halftime show. “I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist without getting some backlash or criticism. That’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people watching.”
2025 NFL WEEK 9 BUZZ: WILL PUKA NACUA RETURN? ; JETS, SAINTS MULLING QB CHANGES
Bad Bunny, whose birth name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has been criticized by President Donald Trump and his supporters due to his public comments about the president and his administration. The 31-year-old has expressed his fears about ICE, which is why he decided to do a residency in his native Puerto Rico to avoid stopovers in the United States.
He said last month that he had not booked any U.S. dates for his tour, fearing his fans would be arrested by ICE agents.
“But there was the problem that fucking ICE might be outside. [my concert]. And that’s something that we were talking about and that we’re very concerned about,” he told iD.
Bad Bunny also recorded and posted video of what he described as local ICE raids on social media in Puerto Rico.
“Look, these motherfuckers are in these cars, RAV-4s. They’re here in Pontezuela,” he said in Spanish, mentioning that ICE was working on Avenida Pontezuela in Carolina, a city east of Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell attends a press conference at Caesars Superdome on February 3, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana, prior to the NFL Super Bowl LIX football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Some NFL fans had a problem not only with these comments, but also with his hit songs sung in Spanish. But Goodell has no qualms about seeing the spectacle he expects from Bad Bunny.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PK Press Club APP
“We’re confident it’s going to be a great show,” Goodell said. “He understands the platform he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a moment of unity.”
