Rep. Andy Ogles is calling for a congressional inquiry into the National Football League and NBCUniversal over Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny’s performance during the Super Bowl’s halftime.
Mr. Ogles, Tennessee Republican, described the 13-minute show on Sunday as “pure smut, brazenly aired on national television for every American family to witness.”
“Children were forced to endure explicit displays of gay sexual acts, women gyrating provocatively, and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his crotch while dry-humping the air,” he wrote Monday on X. “And if that weren’t outrageous enough, the performance’s lyrics openly glorified sodomy and countless other unspeakable depravities. These flagrant, indecent acts are illegal to be displayed on public airways.”
Mr. Ogles said he was calling for the Energy and Commerce Committee to launch the congressional probe into the “prior knowledge, deliberate approval, and facilitation of this indecent broadcast” by the NFL and NBC.
“American culture will not be mocked or corrupted without consequence,” he wrote.
Rep. Randy Fine, Florida Republican, also criticized Bad Bunny’s performance, calling it “disgusting [and] illegal” and attaching screenshots of the lyrics to the song “Safaera.”
“Had he said these lyrics — and all of the other disgusting and pornographic filth in English on live TV — the broadcast would have been pulled down and the fines would have been enormous,” he posted on X, adding that he was sending a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr calling for fines against the NFL, NBC and Bad Bunny.
“Lock them up,” Mr. Fine wrote.
Many of the expletives in Bad Bunny’s songs didn’t make it to the air.
The rapper’s performance was making waves even before he stepped onto the field at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Several conservative lawmakers and President Trump said they wouldn’t be watching the halftime show, criticizing the singer’s outspoken comments about the administration’s immigration policies.
He called for “ICE out” when accepting the award for Best Musica Urbana Album at the Grammy Awards earlier this month. He went on to win Album of the Year.
Conservative activist group Turning Point USA held a competing All-American Halftime Show on streaming platforms for those who wanted to skip Bad Bunny. The performers featured Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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