Bad Bunny wiped his Instagram account clean in the hours after headlining the Super Bowl LX halftime show, a sudden move that left his tens of millions of followers staring at a blank grid and fuelled fresh speculation about whether the Puerto Rican star was responding to political backlash, criticism of the performance, or preparing a new announcement.
The change was first noticed shortly after the game, with Bad Bunny’s profile showing no posts and no profile picture, while his bio pointed visitors towards his latest album and official website. Neither Bad Bunny nor his representatives publicly explained the move, and there was no immediate indication that any other social media platforms had been changed in the same way.
The Instagram wipe came after a halftime show that was billed as a cultural milestone: Bad Bunny became the first artist to headline the Super Bowl halftime show entirely in Spanish, delivering a 13-minute set built around reggaeton and Latin pop on a stage dressed with Puerto Rican imagery and wider Pan-American symbols. The performance at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara featured surprise guests including Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, and a sequence that included a wedding ceremony on the field.
The show drew sharply divided reactions online, with a wave of debate that at times overlapped with the politics surrounding language, immigration and national identity in the United States. Some viewers criticised the performance as confusing or inaccessible, while others defended it as a statement of inclusion and a reflection of the country’s linguistic and cultural diversity. A large screen message during the finale read: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
Among the most prominent critics was President Donald Trump, who posted on Truth Social that: “The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” He also called it a “‘slap in the face’ to our country,” adding: “There is nothing inspirational about this mess of a Halftime Show.”
The criticism from Trump was quickly circulated across social media and entertainment accounts, while supporters of the performance responded by pointing to the popularity of Spanish-language music in the United States and the global stature of Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio. The artist, who rose from Puerto Rico’s music scene to become one of the most streamed performers in the world, has spent recent years moving between stadium tours, headline festival slots and high-profile acting roles, including appearances in Hollywood films.
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl set leaned heavily into that sense of arrival and representation. The field was reimagined with scenery that the Associated Press described as recalling Puerto Rico’s sugarcane landscape, alongside street-level visual references to everyday Caribbean life. The performance also included political and historical nods, including imagery linked to Puerto Rico’s power grid and references associated with the island’s independence movement, according to the AP’s breakdown of the symbolism.
Apple, which sponsors the halftime show, highlighted surging engagement around the performance in a post-game release, saying the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show press conference content became the most watched in Super Bowl history in its first 48 hours, with more than 63 million views across related material including the livestream and clips.
The timing of the Instagram wipe also intersected with a separate thread of public conversation about whether Bad Bunny was seeking to avoid a comments pile-on. Some fans suggested the move was a way to limit racist or hostile replies, while others treated it as a classic celebrity reset ahead of a new chapter. There has been no confirmed explanation from Bad Bunny, and the available facts remain limited to the visible change on his account and the absence of an accompanying statement.
The Super Bowl itself ended with the Seattle Seahawks beating the New England Patriots 29-13, according to Reuters, with the halftime show playing out on one of the biggest live television stages in the United States. For the NFL and its broadcast partners, the halftime show is also a commercial centrepiece, and the selection of Bad Bunny, who performs primarily in Spanish, had been widely seen as a bet on the changing demographics and listening habits of the American audience.
In recent years, Spanish-language music has surged in the mainstream US charts and streaming platforms, and Bad Bunny has been a defining figure in that shift. He has repeatedly blended reggaeton with pop, trap and Caribbean rhythms, and has collaborated with English-language artists while maintaining Spanish as the dominant language of his catalogue. His Super Bowl setlist included signature tracks and guest moments designed for a broad audience, with coverage of the performance noting Lady Gaga’s appearance for one song and Ricky Martin’s cameo later in the show.
There were also moments of confusion online after the show, including brief speculation about a child actor seen during the broadcast, which some users misidentified. People magazine reported the child was later confirmed to be a performer named Lincoln Fox, not the individual some posts claimed.
By Monday, the central facts remained straightforward: Bad Bunny’s Instagram presence was stripped back to an empty profile, he had not publicly explained why, and the move arrived in the immediate aftermath of a halftime show that became a flashpoint for broader cultural arguments as well as routine entertainment discourse. The absence of an official comment has left the motive unclear, and any claims about whether the wipe was driven by backlash, strategy, or personal preference remain speculative.
What is verifiable is that the halftime performance was consciously framed as a message of community and unity, with the AP describing a finale that emphasised that “America” extends beyond the United States and includes the broader hemisphere. That framing, and the high-profile criticism from Trump, ensured the show would be discussed as more than a standard pop spectacle.
