The left is having some fun trolling right wingers but below Daniel takes a serious swing at the Bad Bunny controversy. But first, have some fun.
Political commentator Krystal Ball recently confronted conservative host Tomi Lahren during a debate on Lahren's show about Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl 2026 Halftime Show. The confrontation centered on whether Bad Bunny, who is from Puerto Rico, should be considered an "American artist". This subtle shade with a smile had the internet hollering. Tomi Lahren just got fact-checked on her own show during a debate over Bad Bunny’s upcoming Super Bowl halftime show. Lahren claimed the singer wasn’t an American artist… only for her guest, Krystal Ball, to remind her that “Puerto Rico is part of America, dear.”
It was the "dear" that did it. The clip exploded online, with comments roasting Lahren for not knowing Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. One top reply summed it up: “Tomi, I’m not going to sugarcoat this. You got humiliated.”
I sub to both Krystal's Breaking Points and to Majority report. Sam Seder and crew on the Majority Report have some fun with it.
This clip was all over the internet.
Now on to Daniel
The Bad Bunny controversy and my experience as a NuyoricanDaniel AliceaI’m seeing the outrage over Bad Bunny with my mouth agape. The headlines calling him un-American, questioning his patriotism because he uses Spanish, because he speaks for Puerto Ricans.
I’ve felt something tighten in my chest and pit in my stomach — because this isn’t abstract to me.
My grandfather, born in Bayamon, PR, left the shores of Puerto Rico and answered the call to fight in World War II for a country that then treated Puerto Rico as a curiosity, a territory, a project. He put on that American uniform believing in the promise of honor, service, and equality — even while knowing how our people were viewed, discounted.
My uncle, born in PR also, came home from Vietnam a changed man. He survived the ravages of brutal war abroad, but he returned to a country where the color of his skin, the origin of his birth, and the island he came from still relegated him to marginal status. He carried wounds as a disabled vet …. invisible and visible — scars of battle, and scars of neglect.
So when people denounce Bad Bunny as disrespectful, or as not “American enough,” I hear echoes of that same dismissal my family has felt at times: “You’re from an island. You speak Spanish. You’re different. You don’t belong.”
The same uppity glances that would try to erase my grandfather’s service, my uncle’s sacrifice, my own identity.
But here’s what they miss:
- Puerto Ricans are American citizens. By birth. Not by preference, not by permission.
- Speaking Spanish, turning toward our culture, asserting our own stories — that is not defiance, it’s survival.
- Critiquing the system, resisting erasure, demanding dignity — that’s not disrespect. That’s love — for ourselves, for our ancestors, for the island we come from.
This reminds me of the great James Baldwin who remarked : “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
Bad Bunny is not just an entertainer. He’s a vessel for what we feel, what we carry.
He reminds me that I am my ancestors — a child of the Iberean jibaro farmer, African diaspora and the Taino mother.
As someone from NYC with Puerto Rican roots, I feel both worlds — the city streets and the island’s mountains. Sometimes I feel stretched. Sometimes I feel under siege. But I remember my grandfather’s call to duty. I remember my uncle’s cost to survive. I remember dad’s innate, irresistible love for the rich cacophony of sounds of salsa, décima, bomba y plena.
And I remember: no one gets to tell me which side of me is valid.
We are not torn. We are whole — made of struggle, made of resistance, made of love.
And it don’t taste good without sofrito.
#badbunny #puertorico #nuyorican #SuperBowl #pfknr
