They play his music all the time, and I love it now too. (He was really funny on SNL, and in the Happy Gilmore sequel.)
Clearly, he's a super-talented guy.
And he was exceptional last night at the Super Bowl halftime show.
What a joy to watch someone succeed, at that level, on LITERALLY the world’s biggest stage.
There was so much love, pride, creativity, collaboration, hard work, and detail-level obsession in that performance. I can’t imagine anyone not liking it.
Except, of course I can.
A large segment of the American population hates Bad Bunny so much they chose to watch an aging Kid Rock instead.
They screamed into their phones, how much they despised that he sings in Spanish. (The native tongue of Puerto Rico, where people also speak English.)
Why?
It’s a great question.
Image courtesy of Billboard.com, copyright to Kevin C Cox/Getty
The one thing that bugs me most about this story, that drives me to write, is how historically absurd it all is.
Rightwing Americans got upset about hearing Spanish, or watching a “non-American” singing.
"He’s not white! It’s not English!"
And if you polled those same people, and asked them whether Bad Bunny is actually American, or what the status of Puerto Rico is, we all know the numbers would be sorry.
The history is simply not understood.
Spain (filled with Europeans) colonized the island for nearly 400 years, before the US took it/won it as spoils of the Spanish-American War in 1898.
America taking Puerto Rico,Image courtesy of Libcom.org
America owns Puerto Rico, because we are an imperialist nation.
Just like native Hawaiians or Alaskans did not ask to become Americans, (nor did native New Mexicans, for that matter,) people in Puerto Rico had no choice in the matter.
We freaking took them over.
So now they’re Americans.
And Puerto Ricans speak English, because they’re Americans, but they also speak Spanish, because Spain ran the place for four centuries. (Thanks, Christopher Columbus!)
It’s all too much, people complaining that members of the Empire, who were absorbed against their will, are not American enough for the Super Bowl.
Sunshine and Olly is evolving, and hopes to inspire community. So if you have thoughts, feel free to reach out at jonathanblaustein@gmail.com
2 responses to “Bad Bunny and the American Empire”
stanco55b
I’m not a fan of Bad Bunny’s music (mostly an age thing)- but I am a genuine supporter of Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio! He’s a beautiful human being, so positively proud of our tiny 30 X 100 mile island, its people and its culture. An island so small and widely ignored that the President tediously threw paper towels at its inhabitants in their hour of need; a people so disparaged, that we were said to hail from “an island of garbage” by a supporter in that same President’s last election. This is a man so vilified by the MAGA hateful for posting the signs: “The only thing more powerful than hate, is love” and “Together, We Are America.”
You and I are not like this, but some people genuinely seem to fear people/customs/food/traditions that are different. I don’t understand that feeling, and it’s sad it’s so dominant.
Sunshine and Olly 
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