Conservatives Lost It Over A Few Seconds Of Gay Dancing At Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Show
The Federal Communications Commission has released more than 2,000 complaints lodged after Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime performance in February, and a fair share of them sound like Mad Libs filled in by Fox News commenters. Two themes dominate. Outrage that the Puerto Rican rapper performed in Spanish, and panic about a brief moment of male-on-male choreography in the show.
The clip in question shows two dancers grinding for a few seconds. By NFL halftime standards, it is tamer than most cheerleader routines. By Bad Bunny’s standards, it is barely a wink.
What the complaints actually said
One viewer from Chicago wrote about “gyrating, gays humping each other, disgusting dancing” that they called “deviant behavior.” A Brooklyn resident complained about “two gay men gyrating on each other” and vowed never to watch the Super Bowl again.
A Michigan letter included a single phrase that did most of the work on its own. “Gay porn!”
The Spanish-language complaints were just as theatrical. A North Carolina viewer wrote, “There are illegals on my TV screen. I don’t understand Spanish, but I think I heard inappropriate language.”
Plenty of others called the use of Spanish “un-American” and “unpatriotic.” That language matched what President Donald Trump pushed in February.
The political pile-on
Republican congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee called the show “pure smut” and demanded an inquiry into the NFL and NBCUniversal over their “prior knowledge, review, and approval” of the performance. Conservative group Turning Point USA staged its own counterprogramming with Kid Rock, aimed at viewers who wanted their halftime in English and their dancing strictly straight.
The FCC was not impressed. Commissioner Anna Gomez reviewed the show and said there was “no violation of our rules and no justification for harassing broadcasters over a standard live performance.”
What Bad Bunny’s dancer had to say
Dan Santiago, one of the dancers in the choreography that sent thousands of viewers reaching for their letterhead, told Them the backlash was “absolutely ridiculous.” That feels generous now that the receipts are out.
Bad Bunny put a male couple on the biggest stage in American sport for a few beats of choreography, and 2,000 people sat down and typed complaints to a federal agency. The complaints are now public record. The dancing is still on YouTube. The world kept turning.
