Every Super Bowl has two games: one on the field, and one off it. Roger Goodell knows this better than anyone. When Bad Bunny took the stage at Levi’s Stadium on February 8, the NFL Commissioner wasn’t just watching a halftime show, he was watching a bet pay off. A bet that a Puerto Rican rapper could unite the world.

“As far as entertaining everyone, you know that we’ve never picked a halftime performer that everyone loved,” Goodell said on the St. Brown Podcast. “I think Bad Bunny did a great job. The charge, always when we pick the halftime show, is really to find somebody who can unite the world. Somebody who can take that moment, use their talents to bring everyone together. And I thought he did a great job of that.”

But Bad Bunny didn’t just perform at Super Bowl LX; he made history. He became the first Latino solo artist to headline the show and the first to deliver a set performed almost entirely in Spanish.

The moment exploded when Lady Gaga walked out in a blue gown, delivering a salsa-infused version of ‘Die With a Smile.’ Then Ricky Martin, a Puerto Rican icon in his own right, took the stage to perform ‘Lo Que Pasó en Hawaii’ from Bad Bunny’s Grammy-winning album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos. Cardi B, Pedro Pascal, and more added star power, turning 13 minutes into something closer to a full-blown concert.

Meanwhile, the numbers told the real story. Bad Bunny averaged 128.2 million viewers during halftime, more than the game itself, placing him third all-time in Super Bowl halftime history. Over 4 billion social media views hit within 24 hours. And somewhere between the stunts and salsa, a real couple got married. Onstage. At the Super Bowl.

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Goodell admitted the in-stadium experience was nothing like watching the halftime show on television.

“I had to go back and watch it a few days later just to see what everybody else saw, and it’s really been particularly popular internationally,” Goodell said.

Given the global engagement Bad Bunny received, that’s probably an understatement. But while Roger Goodell was sold, the most powerful man in the country had a very different take on the show.

Donald Trump turns up the volume

While the world was still reveling in Bad Bunny’s halftime show, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social within hours, unleashing a statement that read more like a scathing review than a presidential memo.

“The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” wrote Trump. “It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children who are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the world.”

Trump also noted the league’s new kickoff rules were “ridiculous” and suggested the league should change them. Trump’s frustrations found an audience, but a small one. Turning Point USA staged an alternative halftime show headlined by Kid Rock in direct protest. While Kid Rock’s halftime show peaked at just 6.1 million YouTube viewers, Bad Bunny’s show pulled more than 57 million YouTube Views alone, along with the 128.2 million views on TV.

The culture battle didn’t pause for kickoff. But when 128 million Americans choose to spend halftime watching someone rap entirely in Spanish, the statement speaks for itself, and Roger Goodell agrees.