Like he did in 2023, Bad Bunny delivered the most impassioned part of his monologue in Spanish, promising his Latin base that the Super Bowl show would be as much their triumph as his. “It’s an achievement for all of us,” he said. “Demonstrating our footprint, our contribution. No one will ever be able to remove or erase it.” His trolls can stomp and fume and insist that “real” Americans should feel disrespected, not stupid but tricked and left out by a mainstream star daring not to always speak directly to them. Our evening’s host offered an elegant prescription for their conniption. “If you didn’t understand what I just said,” Bad Bunny purred of his Spanish riff, “you have four months to learn.”
Before Bad Bunny, the cold open went straight into the CrossFit belly of Trump’s inner cabinet. Jost was a too-natural Hegseth, all puffed up chest and Crood arms, broviating at Quantico about how the military needed to stop being so gay and start clocking more kipping pull-ups. Johnson’s Trump put Jost in a frozen time-out as he strode into frame, warning that he had SNL in his cross hairs. “I know late night TV like the back of my hand,” he warned, revealing a crater of mold that no makeup could cover. He got in some barbs about the loss of so many cast members (Godspeed Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, and Michael Longfellow) and enlisted the crew to keep an eye on Marcello Hernandez for him. “Remember, Daddy’s watching,” Trump warned, as Mikey Day as Brendan Carr scuttled behind him.
