Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican artist who is performing at the Super Bowl halftime show this year, was given a shoutout by former U.S. President Barack Obama on social media. Obama compiled a list of times the singer’s songs have appeared in his annual list “Favorite Songs of the Year” as he captioned the post “From one natural-born U.S. citizen to another, have a great Benito Bowl!.”
The timing of Obama’s post is essentially important and seems to be taking a dig at MAGA and the current U.S. President Donald Trump, as a few days prior, Trump had posted video that showed Obama and his wife Michelle Obama as apes, for which he has refused to even apologize.
Obama praised Bad Bunny while emphasizing the fact that they are both “natural-born U.S. citizens,” is also significant since Trump’s skepticism about Obama’s birth certificate is quite well known. He publicly questioned whether Obama was born in the United States and as The New York Times had reported in 2017, an unnamed US senator had “listened as the president revived his doubts about Mr. Obama’s birth certificate.”
From one natural-born US citizen to another, have a great Benito Bowl! pic.twitter.com/jzTrS8oudd
— The Obama Foundation (@ObamaFoundation) February 8, 2026
Some MAGA supporters have expressed similar skepticism about Bad Bunny as in an October episode of Tomi Lahren is Fearless, the right-wing host claimed that the singer “is not an American artist.” However, Krystal Ball swiftly corrected her as she pointed out that contrary to what she thought, Puerto Rico is “part of America.”
Trump has also openly declared his dislike for Bad Bunny and slammed the choice of artist for this year’s Super Bowl halftime show. According to him, artists like Bad Bunny only spew hatred through their songs, something that he does not endorse.
Interestingly, both Bad Bunny and Green Day, the other band that is performing, have openly spoken against the President and the inhumane way that the current administration is treating the immigrants in America, and that has naturally not gone well with Trump.
The President refused to attend this year’s Super Bowl, and while he cited distance as his reason, speculations of him skipping the show because of the choice of performers are making rounds. As the MAGA’s response to a Puerto Rican artist’s performance, “All American Halftime Show” has been arranged by right-wing organization Turning Point USA that would be headlined by Kid Rock.
The choice of the artist here has been facing backlash since his controversial comments about underage girls have surfaced and sparked renewed public discussion around Epstein-related records that include Trump’s name among many others. The lyrics of one of Kid Rock’s 1997 songs, Cool, Daddy Cool says, “Young ladies, young ladies / I like ’em underage, see / Some say that’s statutory / But I say it’s mandatory.
The reference to the underage girls in this creepy way does not only end with his songs as in a 2001 episode of Saturday Night Live, Kid Rock had said, “If there’s grass on the field, play ball!” while referring to the then-14-year-old Olsen twins.
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Bad Bunny, on the other hand, won Album of the Year for Debí Tirar Mas Fotos, an album sung entirely in Spanish, and made history. He also won the Best Música Urbana Album earlier this year and in his acceptance speech, said, “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out. We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens – we’re humans.”
He then added, “The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that’s more powerful than hate is love, so, please, we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love.”
The singer’s vocal stance against ICE, the biggest weapon that the MAGA base is now rejoicing how they treat immigrants in America has naturally put Bad Bunny in their bad books and yet Kid Rock’s pe—hilic songs and comments seem to be fine with them.
As Obama praises Kid Rock and appears to throw a shade at Trump and MAGA, it would be interesting to see how the president responds.
