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Complaints About Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Focused on his Spanish Lyrics

Hundreds of people contacted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show—which surpassed Kendrick Lamar’s as the most watched of all time—to complain that it was overly sexual, and not performed in English. An analysis of the FCC complaints over Bad Bunny’s halftime show by WIRED following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request found the top three states for complaints were Texas, Florida, and California, in that order. Four hundred and ninety-seven complaints total contained the word “vulgar,” 735 contained the word “Spanish,” and 919 contained Bad Bunny’s name.

Released on 05/13/2026

Transcript

Hundreds of people

contacted the Federal Communications Commission

about Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show

to complain that it was overly sexual

and not performed in English.

An analysis of the FCC complaints

by Wired following the Freedom of Information Act

requests found the top three states

for complaints were Texas,

Florida, and California in that order.

497 complaints total

contained the word vulgar,

735, the word Spanish

and 919 contain Bad Bunny's name.

One complainant from Alabama wrote quote,

Dancers engaged in perreo-intense grinding,

hip thrusting, and twerking.

Cameras capture closeups of suggestive contact,

pelvic motions, and all

amplifying the explicit nature.

Another individual from North Carolina complained,

There are illegals on my TV screen,

and that although they admittedly

did not understand Spanish,

they thought they quote,

heard inappropriate language.

It's important to note

that Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican,

and as such a US citizen.

The number of complaints pale in comparison

to the number of people

who watched the historic show,

which featured Lady Gaga,

a wedding and a cameo from María Antonia Cay,

the beloved proprietor

of Brooklyn's Caribbean Social Club.

All told, the performance was watched

more than 4 billion times on broadcast, YouTube

and social media according to the NFL Apple Music

and Rock Nation,

which produces the halftime show.

A few days after Bad Bunny's performance

in February, Republican lawmakers

called for the FCC to investigate the NFL

and NBC, which broadcast the event.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez,

subsequently requested transcripts

of their performance and found no violations.

Saying to Reuters, quote,

I reviewed them carefully

and found no violation of our rules

and no justification for harassing broadcasters

over a standard live performance.

Representatives for Bad Bunny and NBC

did not immediately respond

to email seeking comment.