When the NFL announced in September 2025 that Bad Bunny would be the headliner for the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show, the political outrage machine was set in motion within hours.
The Puerto Rican artist, known for combining pop stardom with a strong political stance, was quickly reinterpreted by influential conservative figures as the latest symbol of the decline of woke ideology in the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined the criticism on conservative commentator Benny Johnson’s podcast.
“Well, they’re terrible, and we’ll win,” he said, referring to the NFL’s pick. “And they are so weak that we will solve it.”
President Donald Trump called Bad Bunny’s casting “absolutely ridiculous” on right-wing media outlet Newsmax. And far-right radio host and prominent conspiracy theorist Alex Jones stoked anti-NFL sentiment online. Hashtags like #BoycottBadBunny went viral on the social platform X, where right-wing influencers called the artist a “demonic Marxist.”
Then it was Bad Bunny’s turn. Hosting “Saturday Night Live,” he added to the controversy, defending his heritage and responding to his critics in Spanish before declaring, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.”
By the time NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the backlash, the outrage had already served its purpose. History had become another front in the cultural war between left and right, with nationalism, identity politics, media spectacle and performative anger.
As a propaganda researcher, I have spent the last three years tracking these cycles of outrage on social media and partisan media, studying how they hijack the national debate and infiltrate local politics. My most recent book, “Populism, Propaganda, and Political Extremism,” is guided by a fundamental question: How much of our political outrage is really our own?
Read more: Poll reveals stark political divide over Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show
Outrage before Bad Bunny’s presentation
The culture wars have long shaped American politics, from battles over gun rights to disputes over prayer in schools, book bans and historical monuments.
Sociologist James Davison Hunter coined the term “culture wars” to describe a recurring struggle, not only over social issues, but also over the “meaning of America.” These battles often arose from spontaneous events that struck a chord in the culture. An American flag was burned and citizens quickly took sides, while the political world responded in kind.
But today the order was reversed. Culture wars now begin in the political realm, where professional partisans introduce them into public discourse and then watch as they take hold. They are marketed to media audiences as stories designed to provoke outrage and turn apathetic voters into angry voters.
A clear sign that outrage is being manufactured is when the negative reaction begins long before the supposed “controversial event” occurs.
In 2022, the American public was urged by influential conservative figures to condemn the Pixar film “Lightyear” months before its theatrical release. A same-sex kiss turned the film into a vehicle for accusations of Hollywood’s “cultural agenda.” Fueled by partisan efforts, outrage spread online, mixing with darker elements and eventually culminating in neo-Nazi protests outside Disney World.
This latent indignation manifests itself across the political spectrum.
Last spring, when President Donald Trump announced a military parade in Washington, prominent Democrats quickly interpreted it as a clear display of authoritarianism. Months later, when the parade finally took place, it was met with competing “No Kings” demonstrations across the country.
And when HBO host Bill Maher announced in March that he would have dinner with Trump, the comedian faced a preemptive backlash, which escalated into sharp criticism from the political left before either of them even ate a bite.
Today, few things are marketed as aggressively as political outrage, as seen in the recent controversy against Bad Bunny. It is promoted daily through podcasts, hashtags, memes and products.
Increasingly, these incendiary narratives originate not in politics but in popular culture, offering an attractive hook for stories about the left’s control over culture or the right’s claims about the real America.
In just the last few months, outrage among America’s polarized political bases has been sparked by a change in Cracker Barrel’s logo, the “Superman woke,” Sydney Sweeney’s ad for American Eagle and, in the case of Bad Bunny, the NFL artist’s performance at the Super Bowl.
Platforms like X and TikTok spread the following diatribes, amplified by partisan influencers and propagated by algorithms. From there, they become national news, often marked by headlines promising the latest “liberal meltdown” or “MAGA tantrum.”
But the manufactured outrage doesn’t stop at the national level. This manifests itself in local politics, where these stories play out in protests and neighborhood assemblies.
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The local echo
I wanted to understand how these narratives reach communities and how politically active citizens see themselves within this cycle. Over the past year, I’ve interviewed liberal and conservative activists, starting in my hometown, where protesters from opposing sides have clashed every Saturday for two decades.
Their banners reflect the same narratives that dominate national politics: warnings about the left’s “woke agenda” and accusations of “Trumpist fascism.” When asked about the opposition, protesters resorted to familiar cartoons. Conservatives often described the left as “radical” and “socialist,” while those on the left saw the right as “sectarian” and “extremist.”
Behind the anger, however, both sides recognized something deeper at play: the sense that the outrage itself is being manipulated. “The media constantly fans the flames of division to get more views,” said one protester. Across the street, his counterpart agreed: “Politics is being introduced into areas that were not before.”
Both sides pointed to the media as the main culprits, the force that “provokes outrage and benefits from it.” One liberal activist observed: “The media tends to focus on who shouts the loudest.” A conservative protester agreed: “I feel like the media promotes extremist idealists. The loudest voice is the one that receives the most coverage.
“They have been chaotic years, increasingly extremist, and the tension does not stop growing,” reflected one protester. “But I think people are realizing it now.”
Beyond the division, protesters understood that they were participating in something larger than their weekly confrontations, a system that turns every political difference into a national spectacle. They saw it, they rejected it, and yet they could not escape it.
This brings us back to Bad Bunny. The anger that Americans are encouraged to feel over their election—or in defense of it—keeps the country divided. Studies show that as a result of these cycles, Americans on both the left and right have developed an exaggerated perception of the other side’s hostility, just as some political demagogues claim.
This created a division in the country, literally in the case of Bad Bunny. On Super Bowl night, there will be simultaneous halftime shows. On a screen, Bad Bunny will perform for approving viewers. In the other, the conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA will host its “All-American Halftime Show” for those who want to ignore Bad Bunny.
*Adam G. Klein is an associate professor of Communication and Media Studies at Pace University.
This text was originally published in The Conversation
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