President Trump bashed the NFL’s decision to have Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny perform at halftime of February’s Super Bowl while also criticizing the league’s kickoff rule.
The president said he’s “never heard of” the Latin superstar who has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration, especially on immigration.
“I don’t know who he is. I don’t why they’re doing it. It’s like crazy,” he said in a phone interview with Newsmax on Monday. “And then they blame it on some promoter that they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous!”
He went on to criticize the league’s kickoff rule, saying it “looks ridiculous.”
“It is not any safer than the regular kickoff. I think that it just looks so terrible. I think it really demeans football, to be honest with you,” he said. “It’s a great game, but it demeans football.”
Last month, he aired similar sentiments, saying it “looks like hell.”
He wrote on Truth Social, “It’s at least as dangerous as the ’normal’ kickoff, and looks like hell. The ball is moving, and the players are not, the exact opposite of what football is all about. ’Sissy’ football is bad for America, and bad for the NFL! Who comes up with these ridiculous ideas? It’s like wanting to ’roll back’ the golf ball so it doesn’t go (nearly!) as far. Fortunately, college football will remain the same, hopefully forever!!”
Bad Bunny has particularly decried Mr. Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, to the point where the rapper skipped any U.S. stops on his upcoming world tour over fear that fans could be deported outside his shows.
“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the U.S., and none of them were out of hate. … Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world. But there was the issue of — like … ICE could be outside. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” the singer, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, told i-D magazine last month.
After the NFL last month announced he would be the Super Bowl headliner on Feb. 8, administration officials jumped into the fray.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be “all over” the Super Bowl.
Homeland Security adviser Corey Lewandowski also said agents will be present at the NFL title game.
“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else. We will find you. We will apprehend you. We will put you in a detention facility, and we will deport you,” Mr. Lewandowski said in an appearance on “The Benny Show” hosted by conservative content creator Benny Johnson.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday said there are “no tangible plans” for ICE to be at the game.
“However, of course, this administration is always going to arrest and deport illegal immigrants when we find them. … We’re going to do the right thing by our country,” she said.
Bad Bunny has seemed unfazed amid the maelstrom. On “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, he said he was “very excited” to be headlining the Super Bowl.
“I’m very happy, and I think everyone is happy about it. Even Fox News,” he joked.
Clips were shown from the network of the anchors talking about him, spliced together to say, “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician, and he should be the next president.”
He went on to say a portion in Spanish, finishing with, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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