The Super Bowl halftime show just became a full-blown culture war. A petition demanding the NFL replace Bad Bunny with George Strait as the Super Bowl LIX halftime performer has blown up online.
It collected thousands of signatures from country music fans who want the league to go in a completely different direction. The debate over who should own the biggest stage in sports just got messy, and NFL fans are picking sides fast.
George Strait Petition Targets Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Performance
The NFL announced Bad Bunny as the headliner for Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on February 9, 2025. The Puerto Rican superstar has dominated global music charts for years and brings a massive international fanbase to the year’s biggest sporting event. The league clearly wants to tap into Latin music’s explosion in popularity.
Bad Bunny speaks about his Super Bowl performance in Spanish at end of SNL monologue:
“If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have 4 months to learn.” pic.twitter.com/bT5ujmmh3P
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 5, 2025
Country fans had other ideas. A petition was launched shortly after the announcement, calling for the NFL to book George Strait instead. The 72-year-old country legend, known as the King of Country, represents everything Bad Bunny doesn’t.
Some fans have launched a petition to replace Bad Bunny w/ George Strait for Super Bowl Halftime Show. https://t.co/rqGLRw3HhF pic.twitter.com/UFgb1dfezh
— TMZ (@TMZ) October 13, 2025
They called for something traditional and all-American, proudly rooted in the heart of Nashville with not a trace of reggaeton in sight.
The petition’s supporters argue that the Super Bowl should showcase American artists on America’s biggest stage. Strait has never performed at a Super Bowl halftime show despite a career spanning five decades and 60 number-one hits.
His fans see this as a long-overdue opportunity that got handed to someone who doesn’t fit their vision of what the Super Bowl should be.
The petition has gained serious traction online, pulling in thousands of signatures within days. Supporters claim the NFL is ignoring its core American fanbase in favor of chasing international audiences and streaming numbers.
The tension between tradition and the league’s push for global expansion has never been more obvious.
NFL Fans Go Off on Both Sides of the George Strait vs Bad Bunny Debate
Social media turned into a battlefield once the petition started gaining attention. The responses show just how divided football fans are over what the Super Bowl halftime show should represent.
One commenter pointed out, “So people in the south identify as southerners. Does not mean they are not Americans. You are bad at propaganda.”
Another added, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. MAGA is 100% a movement built on grievance, specifically all the things they think are being taken from them by the other people.”
A third wrote, “Its a great possibility trump won’t be president by then, with all his corruption charges and s**ual deviant charges.”
One commenter admitted they had no idea who Bad Bunny was before this situation: “Never heard of him until this happened.”
The petition likely won’t change the NFL’s plans. The league has moved aggressively toward younger, more diverse audiences in recent years, booking artists like Rihanna,
The Weeknd, and Shakira. Bad Bunny fits that strategy perfectly. Strait represents a completely different era of entertainment.
Super Bowl LIX kicks off in New Orleans in February. The halftime show will happen regardless of how many signatures the petition collects. The real story is what this fight reveals about the NFL’s fanbase and the culture clash playing out in real time.
