Bad Bunny isn’t the first, not by a long shot.
He’s not the only singer to have bashed a GOP president, grabbed his crotch on stage and sung tawdry lyrics to the masses.
He’s not even the hundredth to do some, if not all, of the above.
Yet conservatives have declared war on the Puerto Rican singer all the same. The latest salvo may be the silliest.
Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN) called Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance “indecent” and demanded an inquiry into the matter.
Remember how the outcry over Janet Jackson’s exposed boob fixed the culture? Oh, wait.
If the government can cancel Bad Bunny’s performance, what else could it do? Why set a terrible precedent like this?
That’s part of a larger, right-leaning war waged on social media, podcasting platforms and other outlets against His Bunnyness. President Donald Trump raged against the musician, as did many conservative influencers.
It’s like we haven’t seen much worse over the past 30-odd years. It would be genuinely shocking if an artist didn’t do some of the above at this point.
Did you see the Grammys telecast?
And, yes, we deserve a Halftime show sans crotch grabbing and adult lyrics. It’s an event aimed at the whole family, and parents shouldn’t have to watch the musicians perform while worrying about the next adult moment.
Still, conservatives have been making real headway into the pop culture landscape, including the recent “Melania” documentary. The film has earned north of $13 million at the US box office, a huge sum for a nonfiction event.
Conservatives have leaned into the free speech wars of late, defending bawdy comedians for having the right to offend audiences. That, in turn, made the Left look like John Lithgow’s stuffy preacher from the original “Footloose” film.
You can’t tell that joke! It might hurt someone’s feelings! Punch up, not down!
Legacy Media outlets have humiliated themselves by twisting the truth regarding “Melania,” savaging it as if it were a hybrid of “Faces of Death” and “The Birth of a Nation.”
Now, it’s the Right that looks foolish by raging against a singer’s performance, one that focused on joy and Puerto Rican pride. What’s wrong with that? Yes, he ranted about ICE mere days ago and some suspected he’d don a dress during his Super Bowl performance.
Neither happened.
The Right should have stood down and focused their attention on the New England Patriots’ shoddy offense in the year’s biggest game.
Savaging Bad Bunny over lyrics that went over the heads of many viewers, thanks to a language barrier, feels like a return to the Moral Majority days of yore.
As a result, far-Left voices like Jimmy Kimmel are teeing off on the singer’s foes.
Conservatives did something constructive to balance out Bad Bunny’s adult set and messaging, courtesy of TP USA. The youth-minded group staged an alternative halftime show featuring Kid Rock and other right-leaning artists.
No crotches were grabbed in the process. And you could watch the show without having to cover your kids’ eyes at any point.
That’s fighting art with art, and the show generated a large viewership, at least depending on the outlet doing the counting. Next year’s TP USA show may grow even bigger.
More voices, not less. More art, not less. That’s one way to win hearts and minds in the current Culture Wars.
