White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Bad Bunny as the performer for the 2026 Super Bowl Apple Music Halftime Show — but weeks before the game, she used one of his songs in an Instagram post.
On New Year’s Eve, Leavitt shared an Instagram Reel compiling her top moments of 2025, set to a music mashup that included “DtMF,” a popular track by Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio). Viewers quickly noticed the song choice and flooded the comments with jokes about the apparent contradiction, with some suggesting she must be a fan despite her earlier remarks.
The attention around Leavitt’s post came amid broader discussion of Bad Bunny following his big night at the 2026 Grammys, where he won Best Música Urbana Album and Album of the Year for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. During his acceptance speech for Best Música Urbana Album, he received a standing ovation as he referenced “ICE Out” and went on to say, “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens — we are humans, and we are Americans.”
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Asked about those comments during a press conference after the Feb. 1 event, Leavitt called it “very ironic and frankly sad” to see wealthy celebrities, she said, “trying to demonize law enforcement” and public servants tasked with enforcing U.S. laws. She also argued that entertainers had not expressed the same outrage under the prior administration, referencing cases she said involved people who “should have never been in our country in the first place.”
Leavitt later addressed whether President Donald Trump would watch Bad Bunny’s halftime show or Turning Point USA’s “All-American Halftime Show,” saying she believed Trump would “much prefer a Kid Rock performance” over Bad Bunny.
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Despite the criticism, a clip later shared on X appeared to show Bad Bunny’s halftime show playing in the background at a Super Bowl watch party involving Trump. Trump also posted a harsh review of the performance on Truth Social, calling it “absolutely terrible” and “one of the worst, EVER!” He claimed the show “makes no sense,” criticized the dancing, and said it didn’t reflect “the Greatness of America.”
In the same post, Trump added unrelated criticism of the NFL’s newer kickoff rule and ended with his campaign slogan and signature.
