Bad Bunny’s Apple Music Super Bowl 60 Halftime Show was already under a political microscope before kickoff, thanks to his outspoken criticism of U.S. immigration policy and a set built around Puerto Rican and pan‑Latin identity. After the game, the backlash escalated from routine culture‑war commentary into a formal demand for congressional scrutiny.
One Republican lawmaker is now urging colleagues to investigate the NFL and broadcaster NBC over what he characterizes as a deliberately approved, indecent broadcast, even as others point out that the most explicit lyrics from the rapper’s catalog were omitted from the televised performance.
Rep. Andy Ogles Demands Investigation Into ‘Explicit’ Bad Bunny Halftime Show
Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee published an open letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee calling for a formal congressional inquiry into the NFL and NBCUniversal over Bad Bunny’s 13‑minute halftime set.
In his letter and accompanying post on X, Ogles argued that the broadcast was saturated with sexual content and was staged during the year’s most widely viewed family broadcast, raising questions, in his view, about whether the league and the network met their responsibilities as gatekeepers.
On social media, Ogles used stark language to frame his complaint. After the halftime show aired, he wrote, “The Apple Music Super Bowl 60 Halftime Show was pure smut, brazenly aired on national television for every American family to witness. Children were forced to endure explicit displays of gay sexual acts, women gyrating provocatively, and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his crotch while dry-humping the air.”
He went on to argue that the performance went beyond suggestive imagery into what he claims are violations of broadcast indecency standards.
Ogles tied those accusations directly to the songs Bad Bunny chose, focusing in particular on tracks such as Safaera and Yo Perreo Sola, whose studio versions contain explicit sexual references.
While multiple reports note that the halftime medley did not include the most graphic lines from those songs, Ogles insisted that the material remained inappropriate regardless of language.
“And if that weren’t outrageous enough, the performance’s lyrics openly glorified sodomy and countless other unspeakable depravities. These flagrant, indecent acts are illegal to be displayed on public airways,” he wrote.
“That is why I am requesting that the Energy and Commerce Committee launch a formal congressional inquiry into the National Football League and NBC immediately… American culture will not be mocked or corrupted without consequence.”
At the time of his letter, spokespeople for the NFL and NBC had not publicly responded to his demand.
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Draws Sharp Conservative Backlash
Ogles’ intervention arrived amid a broader wave of conservative criticism directed at Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance. In the days before and after the game, the performance was a lightning rod for politicians, commentators, and activists who objected to its aesthetics, language, and politics.
President Donald Trump, who had already denounced the choice of Bad Bunny as headliner, reacted after the show by labeling the halftime program “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER,” and calling it “an affront to the Greatness of America.”
Florida Rep. Randy Fine was among those who echoed Ogles’ argument, describing the halftime show as “illegal” in his own post and singling out the original lyrics of Safaera as an example.
He said he planned to send a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging “dramatic action,” including potential fines and license reviews, against the NFL, NBC, and Bad Bunny.
Both Fine and Ogles emphasized that they considered the sexual themes of the songs “readily apparent across any language barrier,” despite the performer skipping the most explicit lines in his televised medley.
At the same time, coverage of the show from other angles highlighted elements that Ogles’ complaint did not address. The halftime production included staged scenes of everyday Puerto Rican life, a real wedding conducted on the field, a symbolic moment in which Bad Bunny handed a Grammy Award to a child actor representing his younger self, and a large message displayed above Levi’s Stadium reading, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
The clash over how to interpret the performance fits into a longer history of halftime show controversies stretching back decades, from debates over Elvis Presley’s televised dancing to more recent uproar over sets by performers such as Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.
In this case, Ogles’ request for an inquiry adds a new layer, moving the dispute from social media and opinion pages into a potential venue for formal oversight.
Whether congressional committees or regulators take up his call remains unresolved, but the reaction underscores how Bad Bunny’s halftime show has become a focal point in ongoing arguments about culture, representation, and standards on one of the country’s biggest broadcast stages.
