By: Rami Mansi
On Feb. 11, the Puerto Rican Latin Studies (PRLS) Department, in collaboration with the Black and Latino Male Initiative (BLMI), Immigrant Student Success Office (ISSO), and the Puerto Rican Alliance (PRA), hosted a Super Bowl Halftime Show Recap in the Woody Tanger Auditorium.
Super Bowl LX Show was headlined by Puerto Rican icon and pop culture household name, Bad Bunny, whose controversial show brought in just as many rave reviews as it did criticism.
After a presentation introducing multiple courses PRLS offers, the Department Head of PRLS, Professor Alan Aja, began introducing the recap.
When reflecting on Bad Bunny’s performance, Professor Aja described the show as a huge milestone in representation.
“For many people, they saw themselves for the first time. It also gives [the Latino community] a means to continue, not just seeing ourselves, but being autonomous agents in how we represent ourselves.”
After the introduction, five students came to the stage to serve as panelists; all were selected for their involvement in the PRLS department, and they all shared their individual feelings on how the halftime show performed up to their standards.
Panelists expressed varying opinions on the performance, including judgments on guest performer and pop music legend Lady Gaga. However, a main theme kept surfacing in the conversation: Bad Bunny should have been more political.
In his victory speech for winning the Grammy for Album of the Year, becoming the first spanish-album to do so, Bad Bunny decreed “ICE out.” Calling for a stop to the increasinglydangerous actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, this move was seen as a step in the right direction.
However, many attendees were disappointed in Bad Bunny’s seemingly “safe” performance; many wanted the performance tobe a call to action and organizing against ICE.
“Right now is not the time for unity. You know, we’ve gotten to a point where it’s either you’re supporting fascism in the United States, or you’re supporting change,” said an audience member.
When speaking on the anti-fascist undertones of the performances, one of the panelists stated the importance of speaking out against discriminatory political constructs.
“The reason we are in this fight against fascism, against rasicm, against imperialism, is because we love each other. We love our people. We love each other. We love our country. We love our community,” said Fia Sanchez, BC student, Vice President of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), and one of the five panelists.
Not all of the words spoken were criticisms; some enjoyed the performance and praised the unity Bad Bunny brought. Some of this praise was spoken by Caro Crosby, who appreciated the cultural identity of the show and shared their opinion when the discussion was opened for audience input.
“I wanted to bring up the positive aspects of the performance. I was the kid sleeping on the chairs when my family was out dancing, and [the performance] was a great love letter to being Latino,” said by Crosby.
PRLS ended the event by promoting the third installment of their “Cafecito Lounge” series, being held on Feb. 24.
For more information about PRLS or PRA, please visit their respective Instagram accounts: @bc_prls and @bc_pra.