The NFL is not planning to change its Super Bowl halftime show, league Commissioner Roger Goodell said this week after pushback from conservatives over the selection of Bad Bunny.
“It’s carefully thought through,” Goodell said during a news conference on Wednesday. “I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching.”
The league, along with its partners at music and entertainment company Roc Nation, announced last month that the Puerto Rican pop star Bad Bunny would serve as the performer for Super Bowl LX next February in San Francisco.
The selection of Bad Bunny outraged some conservatives and supporters of President Trump, who accused the singer and songwriter of not representing “American ideals” and complained that much of his music is not in English.
Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has said he will not tour in the mainland U.S. over fears of federal immigration operations at his concerts.
A petition on Change.org urging the NFL to replace Bad Bunny with country music star George Strait now has more than 70,000 signatures.
Turning Point USA, the conservative activism organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk, has said it is planning an “All-American” Super Bowl halftime show to compete with Bad Bunny on Feb. 8.
But the NFL’s top executive signaled he is confident Bad Bunny’s performance will be a success for the league on its biggest night of the year.
“We’re confident it’s going to be a great show,” Goodell said. “He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.”
The Associated Press contributed
