Am I annoyed that Bad Bunny will perform at the Super Bowl? Of course! It is a slap in the face to Trump supporters; with the country angry and divided, it seems a terrible decision to inject a controversial entertainer into one of the few events that people across the country enjoy and share. But that is the MO of The Left: incessant in your face messaging and politicking.
For those who haven’t heard – Bad Bunny, aka Benito Ocasio, an extremely successful musician from Puerto Rico, has been tapped to lead the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. MAGA football fans are furious, deriding the pick as anti-ICE, anti-Trump and anti-American.
Ocasio may be all those things, but he is also popularizing the notion that speaking Spanish as an American citizen, instead of English, is perfectly ok. It is not. Being bilingual is terrific; being unable to communicate in English is the fastest way to miss out on the American Dream.
Bunny celebrates his heritage in part by performing in his native tongue; he will sing entirely in Spanish at the Super Bowl. On Saturday Night Live the other night, he spoke in English and then said en espanol: “More than just my achievement, it’s everyone’s achievement, proving that no one can ever erase or take away (Latinos’) mark and our contribution to this country.” He reassured the English-speaking audience that they had four months to learn Spanish before the show.
Bad Bunny may make Hispanics proud, as do other Latino successes, like Madonna and Shakira, but he is sending the wrong message to young people. https://t.co/uhYBO7SvjX pic.twitter.com/KGA98haAea
— Liz Peek (@lizpeek) October 7, 2025
It would be far more helpful if he would encourage his fellow Hispanics, and especially young people, to learn to speak English. This isn’t just the message from conservatives; Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former head of the Democratic national Committee, recently posted on Facebook: “Learning to speak English helps you get ahead in America. I joined fellow Florida Democrats in a call for Trump to save English learning programs in our schools. We need to set our kids up for success.”
Income data from the second quarter shows median earnings of Hispanics who worked full time ($947) were lower than those of Blacks ($991), Whites ($1,225), and Asians ($1,553). Without a doubt one of the reasons that earnings for Latinos are lower than any other ethnic group is that so many do not speak English.
Demanding students learn to speak English in schools, leveling the playing field for all children, has not always been a priority. In the 1960s the education establishment abandoned bilingual education, which taught children math and geography, for instance, in their native language but then also gave them instruction in English. After studies showed kids were better off being mainstreamed into English-speaking instruction and also given extra language help, most school systems dropped the expensive bilingual approach.
Sadly, California, home to 2 million Hispanics, reversed course and again began teaching a great many of those children in Spanish. That was a mistake. Nothing condemns people to second-class status faster in our country – or alienates them culturally — than not being able to speak our common language.
Earlier this year, President Trump emphasized that truth by designating English as the official language of the United States. The White House statement about the executive order issued in March rightly said, “A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language.”
Pew Research reports that a year ago 72% of the nation thought that designating English as the official language was at least “somewhat” important, while over half though it was “extremely” or “very” important.
Bad Bunny may make Hispanics proud, as do other Latino successes, like Madonna and Shakira, but he is sending the wrong message to young people.
