God Bless the Americas

Salamat Ibrahim
Feb 24
5 min read

“Melting pot” and “mosaic" are infamous descriptors, often used when referring to the multicultural nature of the United States (US) and Canada, and the promise of coexistence foundational to the two countries. While coexistence can be enforced and achieved through political proceedings and laws—it is shaped just as powerfully and legitimately through community and individual action. This action can be expressed through the care and dignity with which we treat our neighbours, the voices we listen to, and the stories we choose to platform. Bad Bunny's 2026 Super Bowl halftime performance demonstrates exactly how platforms can be used to promote stories that foster co-existence, and challenge exclusionary nationalism.

The Halftime Show

The Super Bowl has long functioned as a platform for coexistence at both intimate and global scales. From families gathered in packed living rooms, to strangers across cities and even continents, the Super Bowl acts as a unifying force in our modern day culture. This is evident in the fact that despite the primary focus of the event being American football, its cultural reach extends beyond. While some are certainly drawn in by the sport itself and/or the community it brings, many are ensnared by the spectacle that is the halftime performance, a portion of the Super Bowl watched—and rewatched—by many around the world. The significance of the halftime performance in isolation is evident in its viewership. This year, while the Super Bowl itself averaged ~124.9 million viewers across NBC platforms, the halftime show alone drew in 128.2 million viewers of its own, making it the 4th most-watched halftime performance (ESPN, 2026).

The scale of the audience carries significance beyond network success and monetization. In the weeks leading up to the show, debate surrounding the performance intensified, with many critics referring to the show as "un-American" due to the artist selected, and artistic decisions made. Bad Bunny, an artist of Puerto Rican descent, delivered a performance rooted in his Caribbean heritage and connection to the broader American culture, and conducted entirely in Spanish. In an event widely purported as a celebration of US nationalism, this artistic decision challenged an assumption made by critics—the assumption that English is the norm and therefore the standard that all individuals within the public and entertainment sphere must adhere to. This is in spite of the fact that the US does not possess a federally dictated official language. These criticisms therefore, appear to be less a defence of linguistic history, and more an attempt to defend a narrowed national identity.

Policing Community

The criticisms aimed at the halftime show however, do not exist in isolation. The eagerness to police language mirrors broader political efforts to police belonging through immigration policy and enforcement carried out by the US federal law enforcement agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While deportation and detention are hardly new tools of immigration enforcement, recent policy expansions by the Trump administration has expanded the scope of expedited deportations of undocumented migrants. These expansions allow removals to occur anywhere within the US, and apply to individuals unable to prove residence for more than 2 years (Yousif, 2025).

Enforcement through ICE raids, however, often unfold at worksites, streets and mass roundups (Tolan & Chapman, 2025). Due to a lack of prior notice that exists in these situations, individuals may not have immediate access to identification or legal documentation, increasing the risk of wrongful detentions. In one case, a Maryland woman, Diaz Morales was detained for 25 days, and despite eventually providing documentation proving her citizenship, the Department of Homeland Security maintained refused to drop their case and maintained that she was not a citizen (Hellgren, 2026).

The Myth of Economic Burden

Cases such as Morales’ are spurred by broader narratives that frame migrants and temporary residents as economic burdens rather than active contributors of society. This rhetoric, present in both the US and Canada, suggests that newcomers benefit from public services without contributing financially. In Alberta, for instance, Premier Danielle Smith recently announced a referendum on October 19th amid announcements of a projected provincial deficit of ~$6.4 billion. Smith defended the referendum by arguing that "not every newcomer is a net contributor," and alluding to the possible cause of the deficit to be overwhelming of social services due to migrant influx (MacGillivray et al., 2026). But research complicates this. In the US, it was reported in 2022 that undocumented immigrants collectively paid ~$97 billion in federal, state, including payroll deductions funding programs like Social Security, despite limited eligibility for benefits (Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 2024; Reuters Fact Check, 2025). Similarly, in Canada, temporary foreign workers are subject to income tax obligations, regardless of citizenship status (Canada Revenue Agency, 2018).

Who Gets to be "American?"

The perpetuation of these claims, despite contradicting legal evidence, suggests their purpose to be the reinforcement of social boundaries, rather than the achievement of truth and community. Through these claims, sharp distinctions are drawn between those considered to be “legitimate members of a nation,” and those considered to be “intruders who must face expulsion.” Within this framework, the meaning of “America” shrinks drastically. It becomes a monolith built on exclusivity, referring solely to the US and in which, those outside of the US are outsiders, rather than participants in a shared cultural space.

Bad Bunny refuted this narrowing of identity almost immediately in his performance, not through outright political dialogue, but through a simple proclamation—“God Bless America.” But the America referenced in this context extends far beyond the US, which he clarifies by reciting the name of every country across North, Central, and South America. In doing so, Bad Bunny subtly subverted a phrase traditionally associated with US nationalism, reclaiming not only the phrase, but the definition "America" as a broader expression. Through his reclamation, Bad Bunny contests the labelling of his performance at the Super Bowl as "un-American" and dismissive of US history. He suggests that the US exists under a broader American identity, one shaped by migration and cultural exchange between countries across the Americas. However, even under the narrower definition lauded by critics, islands like Puerto Rico, which has been US territory since 1898, would still classify (Writer, 2025) despite not fitting their classical definition of a "US citizen." Rather than erasing America's history, Bad Bunny's performance serves as a reminder that its history has always been one of plurality and diversity, not confinement or singularity.

In reclaiming the meaning of America, Bad Bunny challenged long-standing historical boundaries that defined belonging. And in doing so, he not only entertained audiences, but he encouraged them to question. To question what it truly means to be “American,” and how utilitarian the current processes of determining citizenship are. While the performance may not have acted as a remedy to resolve the tensions that continue to persist throughout society, it provided a space for conversation and coexistence across America.