Kalyn Kahler
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- Kalyn Kahler is a senior NFL author at ESPN. Kalyn experiences on a spread of NFL subjects. She reported about the affect of teaching brokers on NFL hiring and discovered what present and former Cowboys gamers actually take into consideration the tour teams of followers that roam about The Star every single day. Before becoming a member of ESPN in July of 2024, Kalyn wrote for The Athletic, Defector, Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated. She started her profession at Sports Illustrated as NFL columnist Peter King’s assistant. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, the place she was a varsity cheerleader. In her free time, Kalyn takes Spanish courses and teaches Irish dance. You can attain out to Kalyn by way of e-mail.
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IN LATE SEPTEMBER, the NFL introduced that Puerto Rican famous person rapper and singer Bad Bunny, who has overtly criticized the Donald Trump administration for its immigration insurance policies, would carry out this yr’s Super Bowl halftime present. Five days later, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem admonished the NFL for its determination.
“They suck, and we’ll win,” Noem instructed right-wing podcast host Benny Johnson, who had requested what message she wished to ship to the league. “They won’t be able to sleep at night because they don’t know what they believe. And they’re so weak, we’ll fix it.”
Department of Homeland Security adviser Corey Lewandowski stated on the identical podcast: “It’s so shameful that they’ve decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much to represent them at the halftime game.”
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Despite the nearly instant backlash from the Trump administration and its supporters, the NFL has stood by its determination to e-book Bad Bunny for the Feb. 8 sport in Santa Clara, California. It’s a departure from how the league reacted to the president’s criticism almost a decade in the past when some gamers started kneeling throughout the nationwide anthem. According to interviews with and public statements by a number of high-level membership and league workplace executives, the NFL has remained steadfast regardless of the blowback as a result of Bad Bunny, one in all the hottest artists in the world, helps fulfill a high enterprise goal: rising the NFL’s worldwide and Latino viewers.
One high-level membership govt who usually attends the NFL’s league conferences stated that some house owners at first have been involved about Bad Bunny’s match as a result of he sings primarily in Spanish and that many have been unfamiliar with him.
“And then I think everybody was just kind of like, ‘OK, we’re going to get on board, because the goal is global reach,'” the govt stated. “And this guy has a massive global reach.”
Puerto Rican famous person Bad Bunny’s sixth studio album topped the Billboard charts for 4 weeks. From Top: Mindy Small/Getty Images; Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Latin Recording Academy
THE NFL HAS a long-standing purpose of rising its worldwide viewers. This season, the NFL performed a document seven video games in 5 worldwide cities: Sao Paulo, Dublin, London, Berlin and Madrid. The league will add Australia in 2026. In September, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated he needs every group to play a sport overseas yearly.
More particularly, the league has been centered on rising its Latino viewers, inside the U.S. and in Latin America. Marissa Solis, the NFL’s senior vp of worldwide model and client advertising and marketing, instructed ESPN in November that the league first recognized the U.S. Latino inhabitants as a “critical growth area” a number of years in the past.
“It is a community of more than 70 million people here in the U.S. … so it was very important for us to ensure that we were relevant,” Solis stated.
In 2020, the Super Bowl halftime present was headlined for the first time by two Latina pop stars, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. (Bad Bunny additionally appeared in the present.) At the time, the NFL employed veteran leisure and model marketer Javier Farfan as a guide so as to add authenticity to the efficiency.
“People don’t see it, but to the broader global and Latino community, they’re like, ‘Wow. The NFL gets me,'” Farfan, who nonetheless consults for the league, stated in an interview with ESPN in December. “And then now, they’re seeing [Bad Bunny] and it’s like, ‘Wow, they really get me.'”
Since 2019, the NFL has partnered with rapper and enterprise mogul Jay-Z and his leisure firm Roc Nation to advise on the choice of halftime performers and promote “culture- and cause-focused initiatives,” in line with an announcement at the time saying the association.
Exactly how Roc Nation chooses the Super Bowl artist and what function the NFL performs in that call is not publicly outlined. Roc Nation declined ESPN’s requests to remark for this story.
“Jay-Z understands the platform,” Goodell stated at an October sports activities convention concerning his conversations with the rapper about Bad Bunny. “… And so, it doesn’t get real deep because he knows I’m not going to challenge him.”
Solis stated that Roc Nation and the NFL’s halftime technique is to e-book “the cultural artist of the year.”
This yr, that artist is Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, who was the top-streamed artist on Spotify in 2025. His sixth studio album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” pivoted from straight reggaeton to a fusion of reggaeton, salsa and Puerto Rican genres. The lyrics focus on his love for Puerto Rican tradition, the island’s wrestle with gentrification that costs out locals and his need for the island’s independence from the U.S. (Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory.) The album topped the Billboard charts for 4 weeks. He stayed in Puerto Rico for a lot of 2025 and carried out a 31-show residency in San Juan.
Bad Bunny filmed the halftime present announcement and trailer in Puerto Rico, per his request, stated Tor Myhren, vp of selling and communications for Apple Music, the efficiency’s presenting sponsor. When Myhren’s group requested Bad Bunny about his targets for the halftime present, Myhren stated Bad Bunny responded, “This isn’t my halftime show, this is for everyone.” The Apple Music trailer exhibits Bad Bunny dancing to his tune “Baile Inolvidable” with individuals of all races, ages and genders, with the tagline, “February 8 the world will dance.”
Multiple representatives for Bad Bunny didn’t reply to messages from ESPN in search of interviews with the artist.
Choosing Bad Bunny probably uncovered the NFL to Trump’s ire as a result of the artist has been overtly essential of the administration’s vow to take away thousands and thousands of individuals from the U.S. by way of mass deportation applications.
In an interview printed in September, Bad Bunny instructed i-D Magazine that he selected to not take his world tour to the U.S. as a result of he was apprehensive about potential raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“F—ing ICE could be outside [the concert],” he stated. “And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
Bad Bunny additionally appeared to mock Trump on the Fourth of July when he launched the music video for his tune “NUEVAYoL,” a salsa tribute to the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York. In the video, he sings from the crown of the Statue of Liberty, who wears the Puerto Rican flag on her brow like a bandanna. In the closing scenes, a Trump-sounding voice apologizes to immigrants over a radio broadcast.
“I want to say that this country is nothing without the immigrants,” the voice says. “This country is nothing without Mexicans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Cubans.”
In 2024, Bad Bunny endorsed Kamala Harris for U.S. president, criticizing the Trump administration’s 2017 response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
When the NFL introduced Bad Bunny as the halftime performer, Noem stated ICE brokers can be “all over” the Super Bowl. “I think people should not be coming to the Super Bowl unless they’re law-abiding Americans who love this country,” she stated.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has admonished the NFL for choosing Bad Bunny to carry out at halftime. Chris Graythen/Getty Images
The day after Noem’s feedback, Bad Bunny hosted “Saturday Night Live” and addressed the backlash in his monologue. He stated in English: “I’m very excited to be doing the Super Bowl, and I know people all around the world who love my music are also happy.” Then he switched to Spanish and stated: “Especially all of the Latinos and Latinas in the world here in the United States who have worked to open doors. It’s more than a win for myself, it’s a win for all of us. Our footprints and our contribution in this country, no one will ever be able to take that away or erase it.”
“And if you didn’t understand what I just said,” he added, switching again to English, “you have four months to learn.”
Trump was first requested about Bad Bunny on Oct. 6. NewsMax’s Greg Kelly requested the president if individuals ought to boycott the NFL due to “Bad Bunny Rabbit or whatever-his-name.”
Trump stated: “I’ve never heard of him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know why they’re doing it.”
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson, R-La., instructed a reporter in October that reserving Bad Bunny was a “terrible decision.”
“There are so many eyes on the Super Bowl, a lot of young, impressionable children. And I think, in my view, you would have Lee Greenwood or role models doing that,” he stated. Greenwood, who’s 83, is known for his tune “God Bless the USA.”
Bad Bunny’s announcement prompted the conservative group Turning Point USA to counterprogram with its personal efficiency, known as “The All-American Halftime Show.” On the present’s web site, the group offered a survey for viewers to decide on the music they need to hear. “Anything In English” was the first possibility. Turning Point USA has but to replace its web site with any details about the efficiency, and a spokesperson stated in early January they won’t be releasing any artist data forward of time.
Last weekend, Trump instructed the New York Post he wouldn’t be attending the Super Bowl as a result of it is “too far away.”
He additionally shared his opinion about Bad Bunny and Green Day, who will carry out earlier than kickoff and whose music has been sharply political: “I’m anti-them. … All it does is sow hatred.”
Trump’s immigration crackdown escalated this month in Minneapolis, with authorities brokers clashing with protestors and fatally capturing two individuals. The administration has since labored to ease tensions and shift its coverage.
Regarding ICE’s presence at the Super Bowl, DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated this week that the company doesn’t disclose operations or personnel plans.
“DHS is committed to working with our local and federal partners to ensure the Super Bowl is safe for everyone involved, as we do with every major sporting event,” McLaughlin stated in an e-mail. “Those who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear.”
An individual with data of the administration’s plans stated that ICE brokers might be assigned to the Super Bowl as a result of the occasion requires protection by a number of federal companies.
“This is routine,” the particular person stated. “DHS was there last year and in past years. Nothing about this is unusual.”
A supply acquainted with Super Bowl planning instructed ESPN that league safety officers “have not been told there will be immigration enforcement actions.”
In an announcement to ESPN, the NFL stated fan security is its “top priority.”
“We have the utmost confidence in our comprehensive security plans,” an NFL spokesperson stated in the assertion. “Our security team has worked with federal, state, local and private sector partners over the past two years to develop extensive plans to provide a safe and secure environment at our events and on gameday.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has stood by the league’s Bad Bunny determination regardless of the blowback from the Trump administration. “We’re confident it’s going to be a great show,” he stated in October. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation
WITHIN THE NFL, not less than one proprietor met the determination to e-book Bad Bunny with skepticism, notably contemplating the league’s pending settlement to promote the NFL Network and different belongings to ESPN in alternate for a ten% stake in the media firm.
Shortly after the Bad Bunny announcement, an NFL proprietor instructed Goodell that he feared the determination may threaten the authorities’s antitrust approval of the pending deal, a supply with firsthand data of the dialogue instructed ESPN.
“I told Roger he should’ve thought through that better,” the proprietor stated, in line with the supply.
At the October league assembly in midtown Manhattan, Goodell stated the league had no intentions of adjusting the halftime performer.
“He’s one of the most popular entertainers in the world,” Goodell instructed reporters at a information convention. “… It’s carefully thought through. I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. … We’re confident it’s going to be a great show.
“I feel it should be thrilling and a united second.”
At a marketing conference in October, NFL chief marketing officer Tim Ellis also addressed the controversy: “Well, not everybody has to love every part we do. Bad Bunny is f—ing superior.”
Two sources who have attended owners meetings since the Bad Bunny announcement told ESPN that the artist hasn’t come up in groupwide discussions.
“There’s not some nice strife right here,” the high-level club executive said. “The league is tasked with setting monetary and model targets, and that is numerous what we requested the league to do. … Of course, it’s difficult, as a result of you’ve got a room of 32 individuals which might be unfamiliar with the artist or might have political considerations.”
Three club executives told ESPN they think Bad Bunny helps achieve the league’s goal of growing globally.
Dallas Cowboys chief brand officer Charlotte Jones, whose father Jerry Jones owns the team and has donated millions to Trump and his political action committee, told “The Katie Miller Podcast” in November that she supported the Bad Bunny choice.
“I feel it is superior, and I feel our Latino fan base is superb,” Jones told Miller. “We are on a world stage, and we won’t ever neglect that. … We have a combined tradition and our entire society relies on immigrants who’ve come right here and based our nation, and I feel we will have a good time that.”
Miller, who was a communications director for former vice president Mike Pence and is married to Trump adviser Stephen Miller, pushed back on Jones: “You do not assume {that a} time when his feedback have been divisive because it pertains to President Trump — when everyone seems to be simply in search of a political unification — that you’d need any individual who perhaps did not contact politics to be on that stage?”
“I do not assume our sport is about politics,” Jones replied. “I do not assume individuals tune in to take a look at politics. We do every part we will to keep away from politics. … This is about bringing individuals collectively.”
When Trump was first president in 2017, his criticism of NFL players who chose to kneel for the national anthem — an action started by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick — created a national political crisis that threatened the NFL’s brand and its business. Trump said NFL owners should fire any player who knelt and encouraged fans to walk out. In response, more players started kneeling, and they resisted the league’s attempts to stop the protest.
According to reporting from ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham at the time, owners and Goodell met with players to discuss racial and social injustice. As a result, the NFL created the Inspire Change initiative, committing $89 million to support social causes, and partnered with Roc Nation to reshape the halftime show and help the league be more proactive in social justice work. Goodell ultimately acknowledged the league initially had been wrong in its approach with players.
One club executive and a source familiar with league business said the NFL learned lessons from its interactions with the first Trump administration. The club executive said the league isn’t being as “reactionary.”
“Those are most likely simply classes realized,” the executive said. “Drawing the president’s ire, there’s so many issues that occur every day. I feel individuals simply have a special opinion this time round.”
Another club executive said the NFL is trying to “double down 1769795468 on an apolitical stance.”
“I feel perhaps in the previous, the league workplace acquired a little bit circled with a few of the house owners, or a few of the different influential individuals, saying it’s important to take a stand right here,” the other executive said.
The NFL spokesperson declined to comment on the league’s strategy in dealing with the Trump administration.
Multiple sources said the tension with Trump is less this time around.
“Last time with Kaepernick, that was gamers and house owners and the president. Bad Bunny would not have an effect on any of that,” a club executive said. “It would not have an effect on week-to-week video games or tv protection. It’s only a halftime present. And I do not imply that flippantly, nevertheless it’s only a halftime present.”
The league office is engaging with Trump for other upcoming events. In May, Goodell visited Trump at the White House with Commanders owner Josh Harris to announce that Washington, D.C., will host the NFL draft in 2027.
And in November, the NFL announced it would commemorate the United States’ 250th birthday in 2026 with commemorative game balls and on-field markings. The Athletic reported that Goodell is also expected to attend an upcoming America 250 unveiling event at the Oval Office, along with the four other major professional men’s sports commissioners.
“If the league has layups or a straightforward win, it is like, take the layup,” the source familiar with league business said.
When asked in November whether the league office has faced any political pressure to change its Latino-focused marketing strategy, Solis told ESPN: “Our technique has at all times been to succeed in each fan of their tradition, of their language, to make this sport international, and to make this sport for everybody. So I do not assume that technique will change no matter language, nation, artists, gamers. … We have a duty with this platform to make sure that we proceed to succeed in all people.”
Farfan said in December that he wasn’t surprised by the president’s criticism and the larger backlash to Bad Bunny because everyone has the right to express their opinion. “We have the proper to do what we have to do for our enterprise and stand tall in opposition to that, no matter the noise taking place exterior.”
ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and researcher John Mastroberardino contributed to this report, which additionally consists of data from The Associated Press.
