Who’s afraid of the big Bad Bunny?

I know what you’re thinking: How are we only six weeks into 2026!? New Year’s eve feels like a full six months ago, at least. It’s as though we’ve had more news (and rain!) this year already than we had all of 2025, and that’s saying something. 

After the month we’ve had – the capture of Maduro (can you believe, only five weeks ago), Trump almost invading Greenland, two people murdered in cold blood by masked paramilitary in Minnesota, Starmer almost being ousted several times, the Epstein Files (!!!!) – I didn’t think the words ‘Bad’ and ‘Bunny’ were on the cards for being the next great viral moment of 2026, but here we are. We’re not living in sane times anymore. We’ve gone fully through the looking glass and into the upside down, following that white rabbit. 

It’s clear that 2026 ain’t here to play by normal rules. 

I was interested in the debate around Bad Bunny’s Superbowl half-time show (you can only watch it on YouTube, the NFL has blocked embeds) because, like so many of us, I am fully stuck in the Trump outrage blender and can’t let a moment pass without indulging in why these fuckwits are so annoyed. Apparently a Hispanic singer had sung some songs in Spanish, a language that nearly 50 million Americans speak, shock horror. Not to mention that Bad Bunny is from Puerto Rico, which is part of the United States and… is a Spanish speaking country.

But it was actually another conversation happening in a little corner of X that piqued my interest, about how concerned some people were about… love. 

All we need is love

Someone called Alexis Wilkins, a singer-songwriter (apparently) and partner of the head of the FBI, Kash Patel, had taken to social media to warn her followers about not allowing “the left” to claim the narrative of love and unity. “Unpopular:” she said, “Republicans need to unite and get on better messaging because this branding is fantastic and allows all dems to get behind it.” “We can’t give the left an inch of ground,” she continued, “They’re pulling the unity trope and we can’t let them have it.” 

Interesting take. Love and unity as mere strategy or “branding” is, of course, pretty gross. You can’t actually buy love, despite what these people desperately want to believe. Unity neither, only loyalty, which can be sold on again once there’s a higher bidder.

Bad Bunny’s performance wasn’t that, at least not from where I was watching. Which I suspect is why it frightens people with massive agendas. Because this didn’t feel engineered. It felt human. This wasn’t a call to outrage at the state of how fucked everything is, but an invitation to stand together and celebrate all of our messy and glorious difference.

Bad Bunny could have come out swinging – at Trump, at ICE, at hatred. Which would’ve been understandable, given the past few weeks, and no doubt what haters were hoping for. But he didn’t. Instead, the performance was bold, beautiful, and genuinely joyful. There was no confrontation, simply togetherness. It was a massive celebration of Latino culture, in all of its rhythm and vibrancy. He declared long live all of the countries of the Americas, naming them from South to North, even good ol’ Canada.

It was a reminder that America is more than just the United States, and that diversity isn’t a threat, but its backbone. 

Less protest, more invite, there was a simple political message blazing on the big screen: ‘The only thing more powerful than hate is love.’

Love not (culture) war

Bad Bunny’s performance is a great example of what it looks like to reach beyond the culture war. Rather than indulging in overt political messaging – the kind that fits people into neat camps, demanding allegiance, and rages at the powers that be – the message was an open invitation to anyone exhausted by being against everything, and hungry to be for something again. 

We’ve talked about this before: focusing all messaging on the things we disagree on is only further pulling people apart. There’s a reason people like Farage and Trump want to keep us firmly in the territory of culture wars and identity politics, because when we focus on the differences between us rather than what we have in common we blame each other instead of dismantling the systems of power that have created this whole mess in the first place.

The recent uncovering of the deep corruption at the heart of the Epstein Files has shown that it’s never been more urgent for us to get a grip on this, and start pointing the blame at the real perpetrators!

It’s also important to note that the NFL doesn't actually care about multiculturalism or progressive politics. Several of their owners were in those files, let’s not forget. They care about expanding their audience and maximising profits, which is why putting the biggest pop star in the world in their half-time show makes sense. This seems confusing to the MAGA-sphere, because capitalism is apparently sacred, but the consequences are intolerable. And as wages fall and living costs soar, the culture war focuses people’s anger on symbols (immigrants) rather than the systems causing this mess. So rather than demanding a fairer economy, some people see Bad Bunny’s half-time show and think “great replacement theory”, not “change the system” – because disorientation has replaced analysis. 

As our friend Ian Haney-Lopez explained in the Race Class Narrative Project, rather than a focus on identity as difference, arguing over who’s worse off, the strongest messages are those that speak to universal human values that we all share and can find common ground. 

Aka = love.

You can’t co-opt love 

The right has always tried to co-opt love, of course. We’ve seen some of this over recent years, the most obvious being Tommy Robinson and his ilk claiming to be against immigration because they care about women and children. We all know this is bollocks, but we need to find ways to differentiate the genuine grifters who are using love to corrupt, from the grannies marching with him with signs saying: “We’re not racist, we just care.” 

But this X conversation got me thinking that we’re about to see a mass attempt to co-opt love in a different kind of way, at a different scale. As we begin to subvert the culture war and move beyond it, connecting people together in a genuine story of cooperation and common ground, there will be those that choose to use a false version of love as wager, exclusion and supremacy. 

We can’t know if those Grannies4Tommy are actually racist (some of course are), but they will definitely care about someone. So how do we reach the people whose genuine love (for family and friends, for traditions that are being eroded) is being weaponised by people intent on destroying democracy?

Love sustains

There’s no use pretending that love isn’t political; it is. And it can be used to commit great harm. It isn’t just something we feel and react to. It’s a responsibility, an act. To ourselves and to each other. It is something we do and work at together. It is what makes us human, the exact opposite of how the AI-slop ads that dominated the rest of the SuperBowl advertising made people feel. As bell hooks said:

“Love is profoundly political. Our deepest revolution will come when we understand this truth. Only love can give us the strength to go forward in the midst of heartbreak and misery. Only love can give us the power to reconcile, to redeem, the power to renew weary spirits and save lost souls. The transformative power of love is the foundation of all meaningful social change. Without love, our lives are without meaning. Love is the heart of the matter. When all else has fallen away, love sustains." 

We have to find ways of caring across difference. Because love doesn’t have a sports team or political alliance. Love transcends the identities we wear on our t-shirts. We can all agree on this: love for our friends and family is non-negotiable. It’s the greatest form of common ground we have.

The question is what we do with it. 

Take the love we reserve for our closest and spread it outwards. We need to get out there and make friends with each other as quickly as possible. Build trust again between communities. Be good neighbours and resist the urge to retreat into our tribes. It’s as simple as that and at the same time, the greatest challenge of our time. It’s precisely this kind of stubborn, ordinary love that has the power to change everything. 

So, no one gets to conquer, own or monetise love. Not the real thing. Actual love knows no bounds, costs nothing and builds rather than breaks. 

Anything else is just co-option. 

Elsewhere in Absurdity...

Much of the crew has again this week been at Snaresbrook Crown Court to hear the retrial of the six medics accused of allegedly breaking the windows of J.P. Morgan, the bank that has – by a country mile – funded the fossil-fuel industry more than any other bank, and who, incidentally, are central to the Mandelson scandal...

Stella and Charlie were on a recce of the National Gallery for plans later in the year.

While Diya was at the marvellous, fantastical and brilliantly dressed Magdalena Bay gig in Nottingham.

And all of us were cheering for the news that Palestine Action has won its case at the high court, that the government’s proscription of the group was “unlawful”.