The Outrage Machine has been on overdrive lately, as it relates to the NFL’s decision to tap Bad Bunny for the Super Bowl LX halftime show.
The political sweet potato has become grist for the grievance mill. Last week, the appointment of the Puerto Rican-born singer (which makes him a U.S. citizen) sparked chatter about having ICE agents at the game to be played in Santa Clara. (Because illegal immigrants will be clamoring to buy Super Bowl tickets on the secondary market.)
This week, after Bad Bunny hosted Saturday Night Live and made light of the controversy, a couple of political heavy hitters sounded off on the situation.
“I’ve never heard of him,” President Donald Trump said in a Newsmax interview, via Zach Scharf of Variety.com. “I don’t know who he is. . . . I don’t know why they’re doing it. It’s crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment — I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson also chimed in.
“I didn’t even know who Bad Bunny was,” Johnson said, via Desiree Anello of People.com. “But it sounds like a terrible decision, in my view, from what I’m hearing. It sounds like he’s not someone who appeals to a broader audience. And there are so many eyes on the Super Bowl — for a lot of young and impressionable children. . . . In my view, you would have Lee Greenwood or role models doing that. Not somebody like this.”
Although the chances of a pivot from Bad to Lee are slim to none, Greenwood wants the gig.
“I agree with Speaker Johnson,” Greenwood told the New York Post. “I would make a great performer for any Super Bowl show.”
Perhaps recognizing that a halftime Bunny flop won’t be happening, Greenwood also stumped for an invitation to sing “God Bless the U.S.A.” before the Super Bowl, noting that he’ll be performing at halftime of an upcoming Dallas Cowboys home game.
Beyond the fact that the decision gives the current administration another reason to delay or deny approval of the pending ESPN-NFL mega media merger, it won’t be a surprise if some other network programs an alternative halftime show headlined by Greenwood and featuring other performers who will appeal to the anti-rabbit demographic.
It wouldn’t be unprecedented. In 1992, Fox presented a live episode of In Living Color in an effort to siphon viewers from the CBS broadcast of Super Bowl XXVI. It attracted more than 20 million viewers and forced the NFL to revamp the halftime experience, beginning with a Michael Jackson performance the next year.
While no current NFL broadcast partner (which Fox became in 1994) would dare to bogart Big Shield’s halftime audience, any network with no realistic chance of ever hosting NFL content could do it. Given the ability to vacuum upwards of 30 percent of 130 million viewers who will be looking to make a statement, it’s surprising that it hasn’t already been announced.
