John Oliver Calls Bad Bunny ‘One of the Hottest, Most Commercially Successful People Alive’ Amid Super Bowl Controversy, Slams ‘Nauseating’ ICE Raids

During a recent broadcast of "Last Week Tonight," John Oliver tackled the NFL's Super Bowl Halftime Show selection with his signature wit. He sarcastically dismissed the uproar over choosing Bad Bunny—whom he described as "one of the planet's most popular and bankable artists"—as absurd. The Puerto Rican superstar, whose 2022 album "Un Verano Sin Ti" was the first entirely Spanish-language project ever nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, has nonetheless faced criticism from conservative commentators.

The political tension escalated when Kristi Noem, a former Trump campaign adviser and one-time acting Secretary of Homeland Security, joined Benny Johnson's podcast. She declared that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would be active at the Super Bowl to "enforce the law," a statement widely interpreted as a pointed reference to the performer's political stance. Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has been a vocal opponent of the Trump administration's immigration policies. This context makes his upcoming tour all the more significant: he has intentionally excluded the United States from his "Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour" over fears that ICE could target his fans, rendering the Super Bowl his sole scheduled performance in the country.

Oliver then pivoted from the entertainment debate to examine the real-world impact of ICE operations, showcasing what he termed "disturbing footage" from a large-scale raid in Chicago. The clip depicted federal agents handcuffing a local city council member, using tear gas on a public street close to a school, and conducting a sweeping search of an apartment complex. Such aggressive tactics have become a hallmark of the current administration's approach, though they have repeatedly been contested in court by immigrant rights organizations.

Amid these sobering events, Oliver pointed to a "silver lining" in the form of inventive public resistance. He highlighted how protestors are effectively using humor as a strategic tool, citing examples like a person in a giant frog costume dancing outside a Portland ICE facility and a Chicago demonstrator's sign that bluntly stated, "I fucked two of you on Grindr… (pretty sure)." Dr. Anya Sharma, an immigration policy analyst, observed, "Satire and absurdist humor can disarm opposition and generate media coverage in ways that conventional protests often struggle to achieve." Oliver wrapped up by stressing that such oppressive actions must be persistently confronted and brought to light. He concluded with a grimly humorous warning, suggesting that without continued pushback, the public could find itself in a dire situation—comparable, he joked, to "two ICE agents somewhere outside Chicago, I’m pretty sure we are fucked."