A famous English proverb, first published by John Heywood in 1546, says, “You can’t see the forest for the trees,” meaning that when you’re in the middle of a situation, it’s hard to see it for what it is.
That’s why people who were angry at the Bad Bunny performance missed that the Super Bowl wasn’t a Puerto Rican performer, or a boring game, or delaying the Winter Olympics on television.
It was how the NFL turned the biggest sporting event of the year into a celebration of multiculturalism and diversity and a rejection of divisiveness.
Credit to the NFL, but it pulled a fast one, even if that wasn’t the intent. The league that tied itself in knots over Colin Kaepernick kneeling in support of social justice issues decided it would stage a show representing the American tapestry.
CoCo Jones, a Black woman, sang Lift Every Voice and Sing, the Black national anthem, during — wait for it — Black History month. Afterward, she wrote on ‘X,” Yesterday was heavy. The world is heavy. I felt the heartbreak of it all and the obligation to stand in that moment as a vessel of hope. The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
Brandy Carlile gave me chills when she sang “America the Beautiful.” Her soaring phrasing on “To crown thy good with brotherhood” is one of the single best-sung lines I’ve ever heard (up there with Joni Mitchell’s “I really don’t know clouds at all” at the Grammys). Before her performance, she told The Sports Network, “It’s really important and a high honor that I am here as a representative of a marginalized community.”
Carlile is married to her wife and is a staunch LGBTQ advocate.
Green Day, the iconic pop-punk band, opened the Super Bowl. The group has a treasure trove of hits, including Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Basket Case, and When I Come Around (my favorite). Instead, they rocked out to “American Idiot” and you can decide who they were talking about. If you haven’t heard the lyrics, check them out, though they are profane in places.
Charlie Puth sang the Star-Spangled Banner and won’t even bother with the silly criticism of his performance.
Turning Point USA put on its alternative halftime show that drew a large crowd, with more than six million streaming the show on YouTube. But while the Super Bowl drew about 125 million viewers, Bad Bunny drew more than 128 million.
Getting upset because Bad Bunny did his show in Spanish is like getting bent out of shape because operas are in Italian.
But the attention to one singer allowed the other performers to play under the radar. On their own, any of the performances (except Pugh) would come under criticism for glorifying same-sex marriage, giving a platform to a month for Black people, or the aggressively political nature of the Green Day set.
By focusing on Bad Bunny, the NFL has avoided criticism for its choice of performers and the symbolism they all offered.
Days later, people are still going on about how the performance of an American citizen shows he doesn’t love his country and how his refusal to sing in English serves as an affront to patriots.
But that misses the point. The NFL, the most powerful sports league in America, which is pushing for a global footprint, said it would represent everyone. Allowing those acts to express their opinions through music sends a strong message about how the league will operate post-Kaepernick.
If the NFL can take a stand, why won’t others?
The trees are so hard to see in the middle of the forest.
Ray Marcano’s column appears on these pages each Sunday.
About the Author
