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Many Latino Minnesotans were excited to watch Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny headline the Superbowl halftime show. For some, the “Benito Bowl” was the only thing worth watching Sunday night.

In preparation for the show on Sunday and to celebrate their Hispanic culture and heritage, many attended pregame celebrations and dance parties, like the “Bad Bunny Brunch” at Hola Arepa in south Minneapolis. The restaurant was packed and bustling, as people drank cocktails and bobbed their heads to a remix of Bad Bunny songs.

Latin DJ Valerie Ebertz turned the volume up and smiled, looking over at the customers. Some were singing along to her set.

“It's one of those things where you can tell it's much needed here. So people are just very, very excited to have a space to experience joy,” she said. “Joy is resistance, so it's really important to have a safe space to do that, and the excitement about this event has been over the moon."

Jazmin Silva, who lives in the Whittier neighborhood, was at the restaurant with her niece. She said she was only planning to watch the halftime show, also known as the “Benito Bowl” to Bad Bunny fans.

“I think he's a symbol of hope, of what it's like to use your platform for something good and not just pretend like nothing is happening,” she said.

About a 10-minute drive away outside of the Richfield Target, about a hundred people gathered in the parking lot to protest ICE and dance to Bad Bunny music. They smiled, clapped and danced to one of the musician’s songs, “DtMF,” or “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.”

Bad Bunny show lifts hope at a difficult time

The latest on ICE in Minnesota

Nicole Ki

Author

Latino Minnesotans hosted dance parties and played Bad Bunny music before the Puerto Rican artists’ highly anticipated and politically controversial Superbowl halftime show on Sunday. Some say they appreciate Bad Bunny for using his platform to criticize recent ICE actions, and he gives them hope in a trying time.

Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show gives hope to Latino Minnesotans at a difficult time

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