Andy Cohen Tells Off Bad Bunny Haters and Roasts MAGA Outrage Over Super Bowl Halftime Show Being in Spanish: ‘Oh, That’s Lady Gaga Singing in English!’

Andy Cohen, the influential host of Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live" and executive producer behind the "Real Housewives" series, has emerged as a vocal supporter of Bad Bunny's historic, all-Spanish Super Bowl Halftime Show. Following the performance, Cohen actively engaged with critics on Threads, directly addressing complaints that the set lacked English lyrics.

His rebuttals were pointed and witty. One user labeled the performance "disgraceful" in America's 250th-anniversary year, prompting Cohen to critique her profile picture before noting, "that’s Lady Gaga singing in English," referencing her own post. To another who criticized men wearing dresses—an apparent jab at Bad Bunny's celebrated gender-fluid style—Cohen simply asked who had worn one during the game. When a commenter provided a translation of Bad Bunny's lyrics to call them "junk," Cohen proposed a comparison: "Now let’s read Kid Rock’s lyrics." This was a clear allusion to the "All-American Halftime Show," an alternative event staged by the conservative group Turning Point USA that same weekend, which featured Kid Rock and other right-leaning performers. This counter-programming, explicitly political in nature, highlighted the deep cultural divisions the main halftime show inadvertently underscored.

Cohen reserved particular sarcasm for admirers of that very event. Responding to a user who found Kid Rock's message "powerful," he wrote, "Me too. The idea that I can wear jorts while looking like a prune gives me hope about getting older!" He also dismissed criticism from former President Donald Trump, who on Truth Social denounced the performance as "absolutely terrible" and a "slap in the face" to the country. Cohen questioned the relevance of such political commentary to entertainment, posting, "Was there ever a moment in history when the President’s opinion of the Super Bowl Halftime Show was relevant?"

The backlash highlights ongoing debates about language, inclusion, and national identity in American popular culture. Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio in Puerto Rico, is a global phenomenon; his 2022 album 'Un Verano Sin Ti' was the first all-Spanish language record nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys and spent 13 non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200. His conscious decision to perform exclusively in Spanish on this platform was a significant cultural statement. As media scholar Dr. Lena Torres notes, "The Super Bowl is a global broadcast with an international audience numbering in the hundreds of millions. Framing a Spanish-language performance as exclusionary ignores the reality of both the artist's reach and the diverse viewership of the event itself. Historically, such moments of cultural pushback often precede broader mainstream acceptance."

Cohen's role in the day's events wasn't limited to social media commentary; he also appeared in a commercial for NERDS Candy. His position as a pop culture arbiter and television personality lent weight to his defense, using his platform and characteristic humor to advocate for a more expansive vision of American entertainment on one of its most-watched stages.