Dem
47
GOP
53
Bad Bunny is one of the most popular musicians in the world, and is fresh off a wildly successful residency in the place of his birth, namely Puerto Rico. It is also no secret that he disdains Donald Trump. In part, this is because of the cruel things Trump has said about, and the cruel things he has done to, Puerto Rico. In part, it is because of ICE and the overzealous immigration enforcement. Indeed, part of the reason for the Puerto Rico residency was that the artist was leery of a proper U.S. tour, since his fanbase is heavily Latino. Dates were actually scheduled, but then they were canceled. In an interview, he explained: "[T]here was the issue of—like, fu**ing ICE could be outside [my concerts]."
Quite a few folks, from Gavin Newsom to Jimmy Kimmel, have demonstrated that if you don't like Trump, it is possible (and, presumably, very satisfying) to enrage him by poking him in the eye. Newsom, of course, has his Trump-mocking tweets on eX-Twitter. Kimmel has his monologues. And Bad Bunny has his own little bag of tricks.
For example, if there is a TV show that gets more space in Trump's head, rent-free, than Saturday Night Live, we do not know what that show is. First, he's a native New Yorker, and it's the quintessential New York show. Further, it launched in 1975, the decade in which most of his cultural references were formed. And perhaps most importantly, it's yet another situation where he wants so badly to be accepted and loved. This is why he's hosted the show two times (April 3, 2004 and November 7, 2015). Despite this, he's been absolutely savaged by SNL, in a way almost without parallel among politicians (Sarah Palin comes close). This is why he's sent nasty tweets/Truths about the show, and how it should be canceled, close to a hundred times.
Bad Bunny has become something of an artist-in-residence on SNL, sometimes hosting, sometimes serving as the musical guest, sometimes popping in for just one sketch. The same holds for Justin Timberlake, Paul Simon and Paul McCartney, among others (though Macca has never hosted). And if you know Trump is watching (and you better believe he is), and you want to push his buttons, what would be the best way to do so? Yes, you could do a mocking impersonation of him, but cast member James Austin Johnson currently has a monopoly on that. As an alternative, we might suggest the following elements for a sketch:
If that sounds like just the ticket, then we give you Bad Bunny, Pedro Pascal and Marcello Hernández (along with Chloe Troast) in "Protective Mom 2":
That same episode also had a sketch called "Age of Discovery." It's entirely in Spanish (though with subtitles), and features a buffoonish leader (King Ferdinand of Spain, played by Bad Bunny) reacting like a narrow-minded moron when exposed to a bunch of new things from other cultures:
Tough to figure out the subtext on that one. Very tough, indeed. Anyhow, Bad Bunny will be hosting SNL again this weekend, so expect some more... subtext. And maybe some more drag.
Of course, the big Bad Bunny news this week (and that's a sentence that would have read very differently, say, 10 years ago) is that he will headline the halftime show of the Super Bowl, which will be entirely in Spanish. If you want an even bigger poke in the MAGA eye than an SNL sketch involving Latino performers wearing drag and speaking Spanish, a Latino performer doing an all-Spanish show at the Super Bowl is probably it. One can only hope he comes out in drag, too.
MAGA world predictably went ballistic, slurring the artist as "shameful," "a Trump hater," "not really American," "an anti-ICE activist," etc. Hey, two out of four is not a bad batting average. Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski, who seems to have more lives than all of the Aristocats combined, said this week that ICE would be deployed to patrol during the Super Bowl.
We wrote it once already today, and we will write it again: Good luck with that, Trump administration. As a practical matter, this is not the World Cup, where there are millions of tickets available, putting them within reasonable reach of most people. Super Bowl tickets are very, very expensive, and go mostly to sponsors, people affiliated with the NFL, and very wealthy people. Bad Bunny may be performing, but that is for the fans at home, not the ones in the stadium.
Meanwhile, the NFL did not choose him as a shot across the bow of MAGA. The management of the NFL is actually a mix of apolitical and semi-MAGA, and would not do that. In fact, the management of the NFL really doesn't have anything to do with producing the Super Bowl halftime show. They contracted that job out to Jay-Z and his company Roc Nation. It was Jay-Z and his team who made the choice, and they did so because: (1) Bad Bunny is one of the relatively few artists of the appropriate stature who has not already done the Super Bowl halftime show; (2) the point of the halftime show is to attract eyeballs, especially young eyeballs, who might not otherwise tune in, and (3) Taylor Swift turned them down.
But just because the NFL/Jay-Z aren't making a political statement doesn't mean Bad Bunny isn't making a political statement. He clearly is, just like with his appearances on SNL. In fact, it's probably not wrong to guess that he's baiting the White House, not only by performing, but by sticking to Spanish. The administration would be wise to just look the other way, although that is not what they will do. Remember that the Republicans are really hoping that Latino voters and young voters really are moving in their direction. Well, if that process is indeed going on, maybe the single best way to interrupt it would be to take the most popular young Latino entertainer in the world, and to slur him on social media (maybe with a dumb AI video), or to engage in shenanigans/violence while he gives one of the highest-profile performances of his life.
In any event, we appreciate someone who plays their hand with great skill, and Bad Bunny has, so that's why he's the subject of this item this week. Have a good weekend, all! (Z)