Bad Bunny walked out in a #64 jersey with “OCASIO” on the back.
Not Bad Bunny.
Not Benito.
His real name.
His family name.
Then he grabbed the mic and said:
“My name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio. And if today I’m here at the Super Bowl, it’s because I never, never stopped believing in myself.”
In Spanish.
No translation.
Even the jumbotron was in Spanish.
And I watched the whole thing with a translator on.
Because the message was that important to me.
They said he was “un-American.”
They said nobody would understand him.
They said having him perform was “ridiculous.”
And he SHOWED OUT!
He brought out Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin.
He staged a wedding on the field.
He recreated a bodega.
He gave us a whole scene of family and love.
He humanized an entire culture on the world’s biggest stage.
All in his native language.
And he didn’t flinch.
His lyrics were clear messages:
“They want to take the river from me, and the beach too. They want my neighborhood and for my grandma to leave.”
“I should have taken more photos when I had you. Hopefully my loved ones will never move.”
And that last line:
“Ojalá que los míos nunca se muden.”
Hopefully my loved ones will never move.
That’s about families being separated.
Forced to leave.
Displacement.
Yeah, he didn’t chase the mainstream.
He made the mainstream come to him.
He put his family name on his back and told 120 million people exactly who he is.
And I’m here for ALL of it!👏🏽
people i graduated with are getting married and having babies and im here using fiction to escape reality and crying over people who don’t even exist 😭
why do americans celebrate christmas on the 25th and not the 24th at night like normal, civilized people? in this house we uphold the romanesque tradition of big dinner on the 24th, stay up until 12, watch the fireworks, open the presents, go to bed, rest
reminder as tiktok is getting banned that DACA was declared illegal in Texas and ice is getting ready to make massive immigration roundups in Chicago, do not let them keep this silent and do not let our community be forgotten
btw if trump actually does get tiktok back when he’s in office, i better not see y’all cheering for him bc he’s the one the original signed the ban and now he wants younger people to like him
this whole sequence is crazy, foolish trying to do a spin and falling flat on his back, everyone awkwardly making jokes as they try to figure out if he’s okay, him demanding the camera stay on him, tarik trying to help him up and pulling him face-first into his crotch