Dueling Super Bowl Halftime Shows Could Mar One of America’s Last Unifying Spectacles

The escape from politics that Americans expect each February for the NFL championship game is under threat. Benito “Bad Bunny” Ocasio, a critic of President Trump’s immigration enforcement, will perform in Spanish the halftime show for Super Bowl LX, while Turning Point USA counterprograms with one for MAGA nation.“It’s true,” Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk’s nonprofit, posted on X Wednesday, announcing, “The All-American Halftime Show. Performers and event details coming soon.” The country singer who’s ubiquitous at MAGA events, Lee Greenwood, is likely preparing yet another version of “God Bless the USA” for the occasion.While walking through the Capitol on Tuesday, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, called Mr. Greenwood a “role model” and said the NFL had made a “terrible decision” by choosing Mr. Ocasio. “I don’t know who he is,” Mr. Trump told Newsmax on Monday. “I don’t know why they’re doing it.” On Friday, Secretary Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security told a podcaster, Benny Johnson, that ICE agents would be “all over” the Super Bowl. “I’m from the U.S.,” an NFL Hall of Famer, Eric Dickerson, told TMZ of Mr. Ocasio on Tuesday. “If you don’t like the United States, just get your ass out of here and don’t come over here.” When advised that, as a native of Puerto Rico, Mr. Ocasio is an American citizen, Mr. Dickerson replied, “But it’s not the U.S. … That’s the way I feel.” Expect the sparring to carry on through the Super Bowl. Turning up just to see a good game, since fans of all but two teams will be sidelined, is being discouraged by both sides of the outrage mill. Mr. Ocasio, who has helped to popularize Spanish-language rap, advances the NFL’s goal of attracting Hispanic viewers. The league’s senior vice president of global events, Jonathan Barker, said in a statement that the three-time Grammy-winner “will deliver the kind of unforgettable experience we’ve come to expect from this iconic cultural moment.”Many of those moments are indeed legendary. In 1993’s Super Bowl, Michael Jackson stood frozen as the audience roared, electrified by anticipation, until he removed his glasses to begin. At 2002’s Super Bowl — five months after 9/11 — U2’s frontman, Paul “Bono” Hewson, tore open his jacket to expose an American flag in the lining. Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during 2004’s Super Bowl set tongues wagging for weeks. So many people tune into the big game that the “Super Flush” phenomenon emerged. Millions use toilets at halftime and when the game ends, causing a surge in sewers nationwide.The NFL wants fans talking about their season’s crowning spectacle and may not mind that what half the country says is negative. For his part, Mr. Ocasio fed the flames in his recent “Saturday Night Live” monologue, delivering the opening line in Spanish.“If you didn’t understand what I just said,” Mr. Ocasio told the audience, “you have four months to learn.” From Mr. Trump to Speaker Johnson, the remark struck a sour note, though the NFL began simulcasting games in Spanish during the 2013 season and almost 60 million Americans speak the language. “I think everybody’s happy about it,” Mr. Ocasio said of his booking, “even Fox News.” He may be right, but only because he’s giving cable pundits something to argue about for months. Turning Point USA also sees the opportunity. The big game’s midway break will now be a partisan pause but not a pause in partisanship. The divisiveness raises a point that Justice Clarence Thomas made in a 2017 interview with Fox News Channel. “What,” he asked, “do we all have in common anymore?” As a fan of the Nebraska Cornhuskers who attends many games in his RV, Justice Thomas is part of one enduring bit of cultural connective tissue: the gridiron. “All the things used to divide us,” this columnist wrote for The New York Sun in December 2022, “race, gender, religion,” not to mention language “fade away” at football games. February’s dueling shows threaten that unifying magic, but the spell can’t be broken if fans ignore both.

Dueling Super Bowl Halftime Shows Could Mar One of America’s Last Unifying Spectacles

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