Tag: Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny’s Halftime Performance: Reactions from the PC Community
by Shannon Kelly ’26 on February 12, 2026
News
On Sunday, Feb. 8, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, colloquially known as Bad Bunny, performed during halftime of the 60th Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. He made history as the first Latin artist to headline the consistently most watched event on television each year in the United States. His performance included guests such as Ricky Martin, Cardi B, Karol G, Jessica Alba, Pedro Pascal, Lady Gaga, and others. For Americans, the Super Bowl halftime show emblematizes the vast social and cultural identities that exist within our country. It is currently estimated that 135 million people watched the halftime performance on Sunday, which was described as a “cultural game changer” in which Bad Bunny “delivered an interactive celebration of Latino culture at one of the most contentious times for the community in the United States.”
The show has garnered praise, controversy, and tension, including on our own campus. Many individuals on this campus utilized YikYak, an anonymous application that allows you to communicate with others in your respective communities, to resort to racist speech and ideology when discussing the halftime performance. For example, many people posted about not understanding the music due to Bad Bunny solely singing in Spanish, wrongly assuming Bad Bunny is an immigrant despite being from Puerto Rico (a U.S. territory), and many made comments sexualizing the dancers. Comments that were made by Providence College students in a group chat include a sarcastic, “I loved all the English” and, “I don’t speak Spanish. I’m not American enough.” Other comments that were made on YikYak include, “Get ICE up and moving around,” “Love me the all inclusive DEI Halftime Show,” and, “English please damn.” This demonstrates the tendency to interpret a performance solely through one’s own cultural identity and a lack of desire to understand both cultural and linguistic experiences that differ from your own. The possibility of YikYak being banned on PC’s wifi is currently being talked about in the Faculty Senate.
Bad Bunny’s performance highlighted many parts of the Puerto Rican experience in terms of politics, sociality, history, and culture. He even said that he sought to “bring what people can always expect from me and a lot of my culture.” Specific examples include demonstrating Puerto Rico’s agricultural roots in the sugarcane fields, casitas where people live, individuals playing dominoes, and a general focus on Puerto Rican resilience, especially in recognition of their colonialist past, which includes involvement from the U.S. After Bad Bunny won his Grammy for Album of the Year, Ricky Martin addressedBad Bunny, saying he had “won without changing the color of your voice. You won without erasing your roots. You won by staying true to Puerto Rico.” Additionally, Bad Bunny’s performance occurred just months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that declared English as the national language, despite an estimated 42–45 million people speaking Spanish at home in America and a wide array of languages being spoken throughout the U.S.
The President made statements about Bad Bunny’s performance on Truth Social, calling it a “slap in the face to our country,” “an affront to the Greatness of America,” and emphasizing that it “doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence.” Turning Point USA hosted their own “All American Halftime Show,” which was presented as an alternative to watching Bad Bunny. Their halftime show was explained to be “an opportunity for all Americans to enjoy a halftime show with no agenda other than to celebrate faith, family, and freedom.” It is estimated that around six million people watched it, although the official total is under speculation.
An anonymous PC student advised “everyone to rewatch the performance and really sit down with yourself” in order to “empathize that we are not against each other but against the system that is bringing us down.” Bad Bunny powerfully ended his performance by saying, “God Bless America” and listing countries from South America, Central America, North America, and the Caribbean. Behind him stood a billboard that read, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” which is a necessary reminder both on this campus and in our world as a whole.
Earthquake Shakes Swim Team
by Meaghan P Cahill on January 16, 2020
Sports
Major Quake Rocks Puerto Rico During Team’s Winter Training Trip
By Jack Belanger ’21
Sports Co-Editor
On Jan. 2, the Providence College Men’s and Women’s Swimming Teams made their annual trip down to Ponce, Puerto Rico for their winter training trip. While the team was looking forward to spending time together and enjoying the warm weather, Puerto Rico was dealing with some of its own issues. In the days leading up to their arrival, there had been several smaller earthquakes on the south side of the island. Even though the team was not staying at the epicenter of the shakes, they felt the effects of some of the tremors during their first day on the island.
Co-captain Erin Boyle ’20 and her roommates first noticed the effects when they felt their beds shaking after they had arrived at their hotel room. Boyle added that she has never experienced something like this before. Throughout the next few days the team felt some of the tremors periodically—luckily none were a serious threat.
It was not until Tuesday, January 7 when they felt an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4. The shaking occurred early in the morning, waking up the entire team.
“The entire room was shaking,” said Boyle. “The curtains looked like they were swaying like they were on a boat. The walls looked like they were moving. I thought the T.V. was going to fall down.”
After the earthquake had finished, the team gathered in the lobby of the hotel. Head coach John O’Neill canceled practice that day and had the athletes go back to their rooms until a plan of action was decided.
Later that day, the team got a bus to the north side of the island where they would finish the rest of their training camp in Dorado, far enough away to avoid the major effects of the earthquake.
Outside of the earthquake, the team had a successful time in Puerto Rico. The trip served as a great opportunity for the team to bond while practicing twice a day for the majority of the trip.
After the trip ended, the women’s team came back to campus for the meet against Assumption College while the men flew to Pennsylvania to face Villanova University. The men did not fare well against the Wildcats, loosing 75-130. Justin Viotto ’22 paced the team with two first place finishes in the 1000-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly. His performance at the meet earned him Big East Swimming and Diving Male Athlete of the Week.
The women on the other hand won their meet against the Greyhounds 113-92. Lauren Zawacki ’21 led the team with two individual first-place finishes in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle events. The team also won two relay events in the 400-meter medley and 400-meter freestyle. Katie Thornton ’21 also stood out, making both her cut times for the Big East Championships at the end of February.
Both teams will travel to the College of the Holy Cross this Saturday to face the Crusaders in their annual meet.