NEW YORK– NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL has no plans to abandon Bad Bunny as its Super Bowl halftime star, Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday, reaffirming a decision to put the Grammy-winning Puerto Rican artist on the league’s biggest stage that led to criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump and some of his supporters.
Goodell addressed the Bad Bunny controversy during his press conference after the annual fall owners meeting. This is the first time he has commented on the decision announced in late September which attracted worldwide attention, including an increase in streams of Bad Bunny music, as well as backlash.
“It’s carefully thought out,” Goodell said. “I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist without some backlash or criticism. That’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people watching.”
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, 31, has made his opposition to Trump and his policies clear. He decided to do a 31-day residency in Puerto Rico, avoiding stopovers on the U.S. mainland, citing concerns about the mass expulsion of Latinos.
He plays in Spanish and should do so in the Super Bowl.
“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.”
The San Francisco 49ers will host the Super Bowl on February 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. It’s unclear whether Trump plans to attend, although he has made in-person attendance at major sporting events a major part of his second term in the White House.
Trump, in an interview on the conservative news network Newsmax, said he had “never heard of” Bad Bunny.
“I don’t know who he is,” Trump said. “I don’t know why they’re doing this. It’s, like, crazy. And then they’re blaming a promoter that they hired to provide entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Goodell defended the decision Wednesday, saying it was made because of Bad Bunny’s immense popularity.
“He is one of the most important and popular artists in the world,” Goodell said. “That’s what we’re trying to achieve. It’s an important step for us. It’s an important part of entertainment value.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
