The NFL has announced that Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny (aka Benito Ocasio) will headline the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. The Latino artist previously stated that he would not perform shows during his current tour on the mainland U.S. because of concerns about ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids at his concerts. Our analysts looked closer at media coverage of the NFL announcement, and the reaction to it, in our Topic of the Week.

The most balanced and fact-based coverage from our content set came from articles by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.) and The Hill. Both received identical bias and reliability scores from our analysts, in the ranges of “middle/balanced” and “simple fact reporting.” Both articles focus on the NFL announcement and Bad Bunny’s background and career. Neither touches on the reaction to the announcement from President Trump or by others from across the political spectrum.

Looking at coverage from right-leaning sources, an article from Blaze Media and a video from The Rubin Report received similar scores from our analysts, placing their bias rating in the category of “strong right” and their reliability rating in “opinion.”

The Blaze article focuses on the news that Turning Point USA will present a competing performance, The All American Halftime Show, for those “who would prefer a wholesome and patriotic halftime show in English.” The article includes reaction from “American conservatives and other patriots,” including President Trump, to both the NFL halftime show and Turning Point USA’s. Analysts found that the article includes right-leaning opinion on Bad Bunny and the culture wars.

The Rubin Report video includes a conversation between Dave Rubin and co-host Sage Steele. Both criticize the choice of Bad Bunny, calling some of his videos “demonic” and stating that he isn’t an appropriate choice to perform for an “American sport.” They speculate about other musicians that they feel would be a better fit for the “Americana” demographic of the Super Bowl. They call the choice of Bad Bunny “concerning” and say organizers are trying to “poke the bear” as a “push back” following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

On the left, analysts rated an article from Daily Beast and a video from the Occupy Democrats YouTube channel. The article was found to be “opinion” with a “strong left” bias. It focuses on reaction from “Trump-aligned conservative figures,” who call Bad Bunny a “Trump hater” and the NFL decision to have him perform “another massive L.” The headline reinforces the tone of the article: “MAGA Melts Down as Bad Bunny Is Named as Next Super Bowl Headliner.”

The Occupy Democrats video applauds Saturday Night Live for having Bad Bunny host a recent episode, calling it “an in-your-face move on SNL’s part to push back against the white Christian nationalism that fuels the MAGA movement and Trump’s power base.” The video host, Anthony Vincen Gallalo, claims the only reason conservatives don’t like Bad Bunny is because he’s Hispanic and he speaks Spanish, not because of his music. “This isn’t a bunch of rock and rollers sneering at disco. No, this is a bunch of rednecks angry that someone who is not white and speaks Spanish makes more money than they do.” Analysts noted the number of insults in the video and a misleading headline (“Bad Bunny STUNS TRUMP, Goes VIRAL WORLDWIDE”), rating it as “selective or incomplete/unfair persuasion” with a “hyper-partisan left” bias.

We provide these Topic of the Week analyses primarily for teachers who use them in their classroom discussions. But it’s important for everyone to know how differently various media outlets can report on the same news topic.

Watch for new Topics of the Week (an Advanced topic and a Starter topic) on the website each Monday. Read and watch them yourself and think about where you would place them on the Media Bias Chart®. Then compare your results with our analyst scores, which are published each Wednesday. Learn more here.