This week, Bad Bunny was confirmed as the Super Bowl Halftime headlining performer. Bad Bunny (Benito) is already a global superstar, and it’s clear that the NFL and Roc Nation are giving some fan-service to the fastest-growing demographic of football fans: Latinos, South Americans, Latin-Americans, and Spanish-speakers. The fact that Bad Bunny is also a political choice is interesting too – Benito has spoken out just this year about how he will not tour in the US because he doesn’t want “f–king ICE” to come to his concerts and start rounding up his fans. Well, the MAGA cult has reacted in exactly the way you’d expect: screaming, crying and throwing up about how Bad Bunny’s songs are largely in Spanish and how he needs to be “deported.” MAGAts are genuinely that stupid, they have never understood that Benito is Puerto Rican and therefore an American citizen. Well, now Corey Lewandowski – a member of Trump’s inner circle – has threatened football fans and Super Bowl attendees because of Bad Bunny.
Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski appeared on Benny Johnson’s web interview series “The Benny Show” and warned that ICE agents will be present at the 2026 Super Bowl, where Bad Bunny is set to perform the Halftime Show.
Notably, the Halftime Show, presented by Apple Music, is Bad Bunny’s only U.S. concert appearance that’s set for 2026 at this time, as his highly-anticipated Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour, which is scheduled to run from December through July 2026, is not stopping in the states. Bad Bunny told I-D magazine last month that his fear of ICE raids was part of the reason why he skipped touring in the U.S.
When Johnson asked Lewandowski if “ICE will have enforcement at the Super Bowl” where Bad Bunny is performing, the Trump advisor responded: “There is nowhere you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else. We will find you and apprehend you and put you in a detention facility and deport you. Know that is a very real situation under this administration, which is contrary to how it used to be.”
“It’s so shameful they’ve decided to pick somebody who seems to hate America so much to represent them at the Halftime Show,” Lewandowski said about Bad Bunny. “We should be trying to be inclusive, not exclusive. There are plenty of great bands and entertainment people who could be playing at that show that would be bringing people together and not separating them.”
He concluded, “If there are illegal aliens, I don’t care if it’s a concert for Johnny Smith or Bad Bunny or anybody else. … We’re going to do enforcement everywhere. We are going to make Americans safe. That is a directive from the president. If you’re in this country illegally, go home.”
“There is nowhere you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally.” True story: ICE has illegally detained American citizens and thousands of immigrants who were on the path to citizenship within America’s immigration system. ICE has arrested and deported people who had legal status, ICE has detained people for “looking foreign” and ICE has deported people who had work visas. But the larger point is the threat, that ICE will “raid” the Super Bowl and start arresting people who have paid for tickets. And if you ask me, Benito doesn’t hate America, he just sees these f–ked up authoritarians for who they are.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
