With Super Bowl weekend finally approaching, the NFL’s halftime show is already drawing louder jeers than cheers from a growing segment of fans.
According to the New York Post, an online petition demanding the league replace Bad Bunny with country music icon George Strait has surged past 122,000 signatures, turning the spotlight on the halftime performer just days before the game kicks off.
The petition, launched in October 2025 by Kar Shell, argues that Strait — the Texas-born singer with more than 60 No. 1 hits and decades of dominance on the country charts — would better reflect what supporters describe as America’s musical tradition and appeal to a broader, family-oriented audience tuning in for football’s biggest night.
“The Super Bowl halftime show should unite our country, honor American culture, and remain family-friendly, not be turned into a political stunt,” the petition reads. “Bad Bunny represents none of these values; his drag performances and style are the opposite of what families expect on football’s biggest stage.”
Anger over the choice intensified after Bad Bunny appeared at Sunday’s Grammy Awards, where he accepted the award for Best Música Urbana Album and delivered a pointed message aimed at immigration enforcement.
“Ice Out,” the performer said from the stage.
He went on to add that immigrants “are not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens — we are humans, and we are Americans.”
That moment lit the fuse for critics who say the Super Bowl should avoid political messaging altogether.
As the petition gained steam, the backlash evolved into a broader argument over culture, language, and politics in sports, with critics branding this year’s matchup the “Woke Bowl.”
Despite the uproar, the NFL is standing firm.
Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the controversy Monday, defending both the performer and the league’s decision just days before Bad Bunny is set to take the halftime stage.
“Bad Bunny, and I think that was demonstrated last night, is one of the great artists in the world,” Goodell said.
“That’s one of the reasons we chose him. But the other reason is he understood the platform he was on and that this platform is used to unite people and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, with their talents and to be able to use this moment to do that.”
As fans prepare for kickoff, the halftime show — traditionally meant to be a unifying spectacle — has instead become one of the most polarizing storylines of Super Bowl weekend.
