A week after Texas native Kar Shell posted a Change.org petition calling for Lone Star legend George Strait to replace Bad Bunny as the halftime performer at February’s Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. the effort had more than 54,000 signatures at press time.
“George Strait, known as the ‘King of Country,’ embodies the heart and soul of American music,” reads the petition, which notes that the Super Bowl halftime show is one of the most-watched music events on TV every year. “The 2026 Super Bowl offers a unique opportunity to pay tribute to American music’s rich heritage by featuring George Strait in its halftime show. His performances are known for their authenticity and raw emotion, qualities that are crucial as we aim to unite fans from coast to coast,” it continues.
Of course, Strait, 73, is not booked to play the game, which is why the petitioner asked the NFL and the show’s talent team — Jay-Z’s Roc Nation — to honor “American music heritage” by replacing the Puerto Rican native with Strait, who, it says, “embodies unity, tradition, and the timeless American music that truly deserves the 2026 Super Bowl spotlight.”
In a clarifying message from Shell, the petitioner says the effort is aimed at keeping the Super Bowl “family-friendly,” arguing that after recent performances it says “crossed the line” with imagery or themes not appropriate for children, the show should return to being a “unifying event centered on talent, energy and good music — not shock value or adult themes.”
It also says it wants to “keep politics out of the halftime show,” arguing that the game is meant to bring people “across all backgrounds and beliefs” together while avoiding messages that alienates fans for their “views, culture or language.” It cites Benito’s joke during a recent Saturday Night Live hosting stint warning viewers to brush up on their Spanish because his set will be entirely in his native Spanish, adding that 78% of Americans speak only English and that music should “bridge differences — not highlight them.”
The final clarification is an argument that country music has been underrepresented on the halftime stage, swiping aside claims that Strait is “too old,” “boring” or wouldn’t want the gig while suggesting other potential replacements such as Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Dierks Bentley, Kenny Chensey or Dolly Parton.
While 54,000 signatures is decent for a change petition, by comparison, a Sept. 24 bid to urge the UN to protect Indian Muslims has racked up more than 1.2 million signatures in less than a month, while a 2019 plea to renew the Netflix series Anne With an E for a fourth season has nearly 1.8 million.
Though the petition appears to be a plea to keep the halftime show about the music, and not politics, a number of MAGA universe players — including Donald Trump — have weighed in with highly partisan takes on Bad Bunny’s booking. Earlier this month, one of Trump’s Department of Homeland Security advisers, former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, said on a conservative podcast that ICE troops will be on the ground at the game in search of people to deport as part of the administration’s widespread deportation efforts.
“There is nowhere you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally,” Lewandowski said. “Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else. We will find you and apprehend you and put you in a detention facility and deport you.” Those comments came just three days after Benito was announced as this year’s performer. The booking made even more news in light of the fact that the rapper previously stated that he did not perform in the U.S. on his more recent tour over fears of immigrations officers possibly targeting his fans.
While Lewandowski called the Benito pick “shameful,” claiming that the wildly popular performer from the island nation that is a U.S. territory “hates America” and arguing that “we should be trying to be inclusive, not exclusive,” President Trump claimed not to know the Latin icon — dismissively referring to him as “Bad Bunny Rabbit” in an interview — and called the choice “absolutely ridiculous.”
In the midst of the nearly monthlong U.S. government shutdown, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson took time out earlier this month to say that tapping Bad Bunny was a “terrible decision,” slamming the rapper as someone who doesn’t appeal “to a broader audience.” For context, Benito holds records as the first Latin artist to have 100 career Billboard Hot 100 songs, as well as earning the first all-Spanish album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart (2020’s El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo). He has also tied Taylor Swift for having the most No. 1s on the Billboard Global 200 of any solo artist.
In a testament to the right’s anger about the halftime show, the Charlie Kirk-founded right-wing political action group Turning Point USA announced that it plans to hold an alternate concert featuring “anything in English” it has dubbed the All American Halftime Show celebrating “faith, family and freedom”; at press time no performers had been announced.
While a number of other networks and organizations have tried to siphon off some of the Super Bowl’s massive audience over the years with cheeky competing events such as the Puppy Bowl and Lingerie Bowl, a Super Smash Bros. tournament or WWE halftime wrestling matches, the Turning Point show, if it happens, would be one of the first attempts to directly counter-program the halftime show out of pique over the optics of its performer.
Though the right appears quite spun up about the choice, Bad Bunny, who has racked up nearly 80 million Spotify listeners over his carer and was ranked as the most streamed artist on the service three years running (2020-2022), has gotten plenty of love and support from a number of fellow artists. Among those voicing loud and proud support for the pic are Jennifer Lopez, Carlos Santana and country star Shaboozey, who said he thinks it’s “awesome… he’s a global superstar, global icon — and an American citizen. There’s no better choice.”
Super Bowl LX will air on Feb. 8 at 6:30 p.m. and be broadcast on NBC and Telemundo and stream on Peacock and NFL+.
