Though it appeared he tuned into Bad Bunny‘s unifying, love-filled Super Bowl LX halftime show at his Mar-A-Lago resort over the weekend — instead of Christian conservative group Turning Point USA’s Kid Rock-led pre-taped livestream attempt at counter-programming — Donald Trump complained that he could not understand anything Benito said during the 13-minute tribute to the singer’s native Puerto Rico.
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Taking to Truth Social right after the set — which was the fourth most-watched halftime show ever — Trump bashed it as “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER,” specifically complaining, “nobody understands a word this guy is saying.”
That specific objection didn’t land with one of Trump’s primary congressional antagonists, Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose parents are both of Puerto Rican descent. Asked by reporter Nicholas Ballasy on Tuesday (Feb. 10) what she thought of the show and Trump’s description of the dancing in it as “disgusting,” a smiling AOC responded, “I barely know what Trump’s saying half the time. So… I feel him,” she said of the 79-year-old MAGA leader who has a reputation for garbling the names of other world leaders and meandering from subject to unrelated subject during his speeches.
She also said the quiet part real loud when Ballasy asked for her response to a push by Republican Tennessee Rep Andy Ogles to launch a formal congressional inquiry into the NFL and NBC for what he said was their “prior knowledge, deliberate approval and facilitation of this indecent broadcast,” which he claimed was “pure smut, brazenly aired on national television.”
Considering the set — which featured surprise guests Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, as well as Cardi B, Karol G, Jessica Alba and others — was in Spanish, AOC said, “I thought they didn’t understand what he was saying?,” then jokingly adding of Ogles and fellow offended Republican Rep. Randy Fine of Florida, “I look forward to seeing their Duolingo scores and operating accordingly.”
As for how she felt about the performance, which ended with the singer holding up a football emblazoned with the phrase “Together, We Are America” as well as the message “The only thing more powerful than hate is love” posted on the Jumbotron in Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., AOC said as a Puerto Rican and American it gave her “so much pride.”
“Not only that, but really telling the story of America, and all the Americas,” she said of the bit in the set where Benito read off the names of all the countries that make up the Americas. “He didn’t just play his fantastic music, but he talked about the history of sugar cane farming, of the diaspora of Nuyoricans in New York City, of how all of us can come together as a country. And I think it was incredibly inspiring and fun and joyful in a time that people find very challenging. I thought he made everyone so proud. It made me super proud too.”
Asked if she thought Bunny might tone down his anti-ICE rhetoric after using his showcase on what is traditionally the biggest televised event of the year to push for unity, AOC said, “Oh no! I think a big part of what makes Bad Bunny so important is that he’s one of the few artists that has the courage to actually use his voice in this day and age.”
During his speech accepting the best música urbana album at the Grammy Awards earlier this month for his smash Debí Tirar Más Fotos LP, Bad Bunny slammed the Trump administration’s nationwide immigration blitz, specifically calling out ICE’s aggressive tactics.
“Before I say thanks to God, I’m gonna say ICE out!” Benito said to a standing ovation. “We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we are not aliens, we are humans and we are Americans. I know it’s tough not to hate on these days and I was thinking sometime we get contaminados [contaminated]. The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So please, we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them. We love our people, we love our family, and that’s the way to do it. We love. That’s the way to do it. Thank God, and thanks to the academy.”
