WASHINGTON — President Trump can’t seem to stop talking about Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.
He refused to invite him to a White House dinner later this week with state leaders from both parties, saying he was “not worthy” of the event. And he has castigated Moore for a sewage spill that has spoiled the Potomac River, even though the faulty pipe is part of a federally regulated utility.
There could soon be more reasons for Trump to complain about Moore, the nation’s only Black governor currently in office. Moore is trying to redraw Maryland’s congressional map to boost Democrats, part of a nationwide redistricting battle that Trump started to help Republicans in the midterm elections.
If Moore can overcome resistance from a key member of his own party in the state legislature, the tide could continue to shift in Democrats’ favor.
Moore, who is frequently floated as a potential Democratic presidential candidate, is the vice chair of the National Governors Assn., which is meeting in Washington this week for its annual conference. He sat down with the Associated Press on Wednesday at the start of his visit. Here is a transcript of the interview, edited for length and clarity.
Redistricting
Q: You met with Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries to talk about redistricting. Can you tell me what your understanding was leaving that meeting and whether there will be an up-and-down vote in the Maryland legislature?
A: All we’re asking for is a vote. And however the vote goes, however the vote goes. But that’s democracy.
Q: What do you see as your role in the party?
A: I don’t look at it as I’m doing it because I’m trying to help a party per se. I’m doing it because I think we have an unchecked executive and right now Congress does not seem interested in actually doing its job and establishing real checks and balances.
And I’m watching what Donald Trump is doing. This would not be an issue had it not been for Donald Trump saying, you know what, let me come up with every creative way I can think of to make this pain permanent. And one of the ways he did was he said, let’s just start calling states — the states I choose — to say let’s have a redistricting conversation mid-decade.
This would not even be an issue had Donald Trump not brought this up and introduced this into the ecosystem.
Trump relationship
Q: Speaking of the president, do you have thoughts on why he’s been stepping up his criticism of you on everything from not inviting you to the dinner to his criticism of the Potomac River sewage spill?
A: This one would actually be comical if it weren’t so serious. This is a Washington, D.C., pipe that exists on federal land. How this has anything to do with Maryland, I have no idea. I think he just woke up and just said, I hate Maryland so I’m just going to introduce them into a conversation. This literally has nothing to do with us, with the exception of the fact that when we first heard about what happened, that I ordered our team to assist Washington, D.C.
The short answer is I don’t know. I cannot get into the president’s psyche.
Q: Do you think it’s personal?
A: I know it’s not for me. I have no desire to have beef with the president of the United States. I didn’t run for governor like, man, I can’t wait so me and the president can go toe to toe. I have no desire on that. But the fact that he is waking up in the middle of the night and tweeting about me, I just, I pray for him and I just feel bad for him because that has just got to be a really, really hard existence.
Trump and Black History Month
Q: The White House is holding an event right now commemorating Black History Month. Could you share your thoughts on the president’s relationship with the Black community?
A: Listen, I think the president has long had a very complicated history with the Black community. We’re talking about a person who has been sued from his earliest days from his treatment of Black tenants. We’re talking about a person who is one of the originators of birtherism. We’re talking about a person who has now spent his time trying to ban books about Black history, a person who has spent his time now doing the greatest assault on unemployment of Black women in our nation’s history. You know, so, I’m not sure what anyone is going to gain from an event by Donald Trump about Black history.
2028
Q: Do you think the next presidential nominee on both sides might come from this group of governors?
A: I see the governors as in many ways the final line of defense because I think it’s never mattered more who your governor is.
Q: The country is so polarized. How do we break the fever?
A: You stay consistent with who you are. I think if you’re a polarizing person or polarizing personality, then that’s just who you are. That’s just never been me.
Cappelletti and Sloan write for the Associated Press.
When India and Pakistan meet in the T20 World Cup on Sunday, the match will not just be significant for its on-field cricket action but also the political climate that has shrouded the encounter and the tournament itself.
The South Asian nations share a decades-old history of wars and hostile relations. The most recent encounter came in May 2025, when the nuclear-armed neighbours were engaged in a four-day cross-border conflict.
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This 78-year-old bitter history has fuelled the sporting rivalry, which has – at times – led to tournament boycotts, cancelled matches and ground invasions.
Players from both teams have often been involved in heated encounters on the field, but have also publicly shared lighter moments off it.
However, the lingering hostility of the last conflict has made a severe and long-term impact on cricket, which is the most widely followed sport in South Asia.
We look back at the deteriorating cricket relations between India and Pakistan since the May conflict and the on-field events steeped in politics:
September 14 – No handshake row
The controversy began when India’s Suryakumar Yadav opted out of the customary pre-toss captains’ handshake with Pakistan’s Salman Ali Agha, prompting fans to wonder if politics were at play.
The doubts were cleared at the end of the match when, after hitting the winning runs, Yadav and his batting partner Shivam Dube walked off the field without approaching the Pakistani captain and team for the traditional post-match handshakes.
Pakistan’s players trudged off in a group and waited for the Indian squad, but the Indian contingent only shook hands with each other before walking into their dressing room and shutting the door as the waiting Pakistan players looked on.
Later, Yadav confirmed that his team had planned to not shake hands with Pakistani players all along, linking it to the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that preceded the May conflict.
“A few things in life are above sportsman’s spirit,” the 35-year-old said.
India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav walks off after the toss as his Pakistan counterpart Salman Agha watches on before the start of their Asia Cup 2025 game [Sajjad Hussain/AFP]
September 17 – Pakistan refuse to take the field against UAE
The fallout of the handshake row carried over into Pakistan’s next group game in the Asia Cup, when they refused to take the field against the UAE in protest against match referee Andy Pycroft.
Pakistan insisted that Pycroft be removed from their fixture as he was the key official in the India match and helped carry out India’s request that the captains not shake hands at the toss.
“Andy Pycroft had barred the captains of India and Pakistan from shaking hands during their match,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement.
The Pakistan-UAE match was delayed by an hour as negotiations took place behind closed doors, and Pycroft apologised for the “miscommunication”.
Pakistan’s captain Salman Agha and team manager Naveed Akram Cheema speak before the start of the match against the United Arab Emirates [File: Sajjad Hussain/AFP]
September 21 – Players exchange heated words, make references to conflict
When the teams met for the second time in the Asia Cup, players from both sides were seen exchanging verbal blows in the middle of the pitch.
Pakistan’s Haris Rauf had a go at India’s batter Abhishek Sharma, who later said his match-winning innings of 74 runs was a response to Pakistani players.
“The way they were coming at us without any reason, I didn’t like it at all,” Sharma said after the match.
Rauf was also seen making gestures towards the Indian supporters while fielding on the boundary. He held up his hands to indicate the numbers six and zero, a reference to Pakistan’s claim of downing six Indian jets during the May conflict.
The fast bowler also made gestures indicating an aircraft nosediving into the ground.
Following the match, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) lodged a complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) against Rauf and Pakistani batter Sahibzada Farhan, who marked his half-century with a mock gun celebration.
Pakistan, too, lodged a complaint against India’s captain Yadav for using his post-match press comments to mention the Indian missile attacks in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Haris Rauf speaks with India’s Abhishek Sharma, second left, as Shubman Gill watches during the Asia Cup match [File: Sajjad Hussain/AFP]
September 28 – India refuse to receive trophy from Pakistani official
The controversial tournament peaked in the final when India, who beat Pakistan by five wickets, refused to accept the Asia Cup trophy because it was presented by Mohsin Naqvi, who is the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president as well as the chairman of the PCB.
Naqvi is also Pakistan’s federal interior minister.
“We have decided not to take the Asia Cup trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main [political] leaders of Pakistan,” Devajit Saikia, the chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said.
The final award presentation was delayed by more than an hour due to India’s refusal and Naqvi’s insistence on presenting the trophy. The Indian team celebrated by pretending to hold a trophy.
India’s captain Yadav added it was the team’s decision to refuse the trophy and “no one told us to do it”.
India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav pretends to hold the trophy as his team celebrates their victory at the end of the Asia Cup 2025 final [File: Sajjad Hussain/AFP]
October 5 – Handshake row hits Women’s Cricket World Cup
When India and Pakistan faced off at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 in Sri Lanka, the Indian women’s team followed the precedent set by the men’s side by not offering to shake hands with the opposition.
India’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur and her Pakistani counterpart Fatima Sana walk past each other after the toss at their ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 match in Sri Lanka [Ishara S Kodikara/AFP]
November 4 – ICC sanctions Indian and Pakistani players for on-field behaviour
Five weeks after the conclusion of the Asia Cup, the ICC said Rauf, Farhan and Yadav had been found guilty of breaching its code of conduct and bringing the game into disrepute.
Yadav and Rauf were fined 30 percent of their match fees from the September 14 match and received two demerit points each, while Farhan walked away with a warning and one demerit point.
Rauf was found guilty of the same offence in the final and handed the same punishment, which led to a two-match ban on him.
Meanwhile, Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who displayed a plane-crashing celebration of his own in the final, was also found guilty and handed one demerit point.
Jasprit Bumrah celebrates the wicket of Haris Rauf during the Asia Cup final [Altaf Qadri/AP]
January 25 – Pakistan casts doubt on T20 World Cup participation
Following Bangladesh’s ouster from the T20 World Cup, Pakistan said it would reconsider its own presence at the tournament.
“The prime minister is not in Pakistan right now. When he returns, I’ll be able to give you our final decision,” PCB chief Naqvi said.
February 1 – Pakistan announces boycott of India match
In an unprecedented decision at a World Cup, Pakistan’s government said its team would not take the field against India on February 15.
A few days later, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif revealed the move was an act of solidarity with Bangladesh.
February 9 – Pakistan reverses boycott
More than a week later, Pakistan reversed its decision and said its cricket team had been ordered to take the field in the match on Sunday.
Pakistan’s government said it had “reviewed formal requests extended by the Bangladesh Cricket Board, as well as the supporting communications from Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, and other member nations”, which sought “a viable solution to recent challenges”, referring to its decision to boycott the game.
Cardi B was part of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show. But exactly what she did during that show turned into a perplexing question for two major prediction markets.
At least one Kalshi trader filed a complaint with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over how the prediction market handled Sunday’s appearance by the Grammy-winning rapper. The result of a similar event contract on Polymarket also drew the ire of some users on that platform.
Prediction markets provide an opportunity to trade — or wager — on the results of future events. The markets are comprised of typically yes-or-no questions called event contracts, with the prices connected to what traders are willing to pay, which theoretically indicates the perceived probability of an event occurring.
The buy-in for each contract ranges from $0 to $1, reflecting a 0% to 100% chance of what traders think could happen.
More than $47.3mn (€39.69mn) was wagered on Kalshi’s market for: “Who will perform at the Big Game?” A Polymarket contract had more than $10mn (€8.39mn) in volume.
Cameo appearance
Cardi B joined singers Karol G and Young Miko and actors Jessica Alba and Pedro Pascal on a starry front porch during the halftime spectacle. She danced to the music, but it was unclear whether she was singing along during the show, which included performances by Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga.
Due to “ambiguity over whether or not Cardi B’s attendance at the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show constituted a qualifying ‘performance,’” Kalshi cited one of its rules in settling the market at the last price before trading was paused: $0.74 for No holders and $0.26 for Yes holders. The platform returned all the money to its users.
Polymarket’s contract was resolved as Cardi B had performed, but the Yes was disputed. A final decision on the contract is expected to be announced on Wednesday.
In the CFTC complaint — first reported by the Event Horizon newsletter and posted by Front Office Sports — the trader alleges that Kalshi violated the Commodity Exchange Act with how it resolved the Cardi B contract. The trader — a Yes holder — is seeking $3,700 (€3,104).
Spike in Super Bowl trading
The Super Bowl capped a big NFL season for prediction markets.
Kalshi reported a daily record high of more than $1bn (€839mn) in total trading volume on the day of the game, an increase of more than 2,700% compared to last year’s Super Bowl.
The season-long total for all Super Bowl winner futures was $828.6mn (€695.32mn) up more than 2,000% from last year.
The increased activity on Sunday caused some deposit issues. Kalshi co-founder Luana Lopes Lara posted on X on Monday that the “traffic spike was way bigger than our most optimistic forecasts”.
She said the platform had reimbursed processing fees on the affected deposits and added credits to users who experienced delays.
Robinhood Markets highlighted the strength of its prediction markets when it announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full 2025 on Tuesday.
“I think we are just at the beginning of a prediction market super cycle that could drive trillions in annual volume over time,” CEO Vlad Tenev said during an earnings call.
“This year is going to be a big year. The Olympics are going on right now. The World Cup is coming in the summer.”
A real couple said “I do” at the Super Bowl halftime show — and Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga were there to bless the union.
For those analyzing the details in Bad Bunny’s 15-minute halftime performance, there was a real wedding that took place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara in front of 75,000 fans.
The couple signed their nuptials as Lady Gaga performed a salsa rendition of her ballad “Die With a Smile” — notably without collaborator Bruno Mars.
According to a statement released by Bad Bunny’s publicist, the couple had first invited Bad Bunny to attend their wedding but were instead invited to be part of the Apple Music halftime show performance.
Amid his busy performance — which included dancing on utility poles, a bodega, a field filled with laborers and the pink casita stage created during his 2025 residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico — the Puerto Rican star still made time to sign off on their marriage certificate before the newlyweds relished their first slice of cake.
President Trump told the New York Post that music artist Bad Bunny was a “terrible choice” to headline the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show and that the NFL’s selection of the Puerto Rican singer and rapper sows “hatred.”
Department of Homeland Security adviser Corey Lewandowski suggested that Bad Bunny loathes the U.S. “It’s so shameful that they’ve decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much to represent them at the halftime game,” he told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said on Monday that Bad Bunny disseminates “anti-American propaganda.”
The upshot: Bad Bunny (aka Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) is an enemy of the state. An outsider who doesn’t possess American values. A Super Bowl wrecker.
Bad Bunny took home multiple trophies from the 68th Grammy Awards last weekend in Los Angeles, including for album of the year. Very American, sir.
(Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images for the Recording Academy)
Heated debate around who is worthy to perform the halftime show is an American tradition (Prince, yes. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, no). But now, unsurprisingly, politics are part of that debate, so the mere fact that Bad Bunny is brown and Latino and sings in Spanish is seen by some as an affront to the right. Clearly the “Woke Bowl” is disrespecting the tough-on-immigration president, and in Español, no less.
But Bad Bunny is an American citizen, as are most people born in Puerto Rico after 1898, thanks to the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917. Bad Bunny, born in 1994, made the deadline with 96 years to spare. If the fear is that foreigners are coming here to take our jobs and ruin beloved American traditions, there are plenty of nonnative artists to grouse about.
For decades, outsiders have foisted their foreign music upon us at the Super Bowl between commercials for Doritos and Budweiser.
The United Kingdom’s Phil Collins played the 2000 Super Bowl XXXIV Halftime Show, as did Enrique Iglesias, who is from Spain. The Irishmen of U2 stole jobs away from Americans when they played the 2002 Super Bowl. The following year it was sneaky Canadian Shania Twain and a sus character from England referred to only as Sting.
Then came bad hombre after bad hombre from the UK: Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Coldplay. And don’t even get me started on Shakira, gyrating her Colombian self into 2020’s Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show, or the following year, the Weeknd using his sweet voice to distract from the fact he’s Canadian.
Remember all the anti-immigrant furor around those aforementioned performances? Of course not — because there was none. And this year, if the delicately reunited U.K. duo Oasis was to pull things together for 2026 and play the Super Bowl, it most certainly wouldn’t inspire the same kind of vitriol.
The right remembers that Bad Bunny criticized the Trump administration for its handling of Puerto Rico’s hurricane recovery, and that that he has spoken out against ICE’s inhumane treatment of immigrants. But calling Bad Bunny a dissenter is too direct, too Stalinist. It’s better to cast doubt upon the singer’s loyalty to America via thinly veiled racist rhetoric.
Turning Point USA, the right-wing group founded by Charlie Kirk and helmed by his wife, Erika Kirk, following his assassination, has organized its own counter-concert called the “All-American Halftime Show”. It will star rap-rocker Kid Rock and country artists Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett. The show is counter-programmed to compete with the Super Bowl halftime show, airing on X and conservative networks such as TBN and OAN around the same time as Bad Bunny’s set.
When the “alternative” show’s lineup was announced this week, Kid Rock took a jab at Bad Bunny in a statement: “He’s said he’s having a dance party, wearing a dress, and singing in Spanish? Cool. We plan to play great songs for folks who love America.”
Kid Rock isn’t known to wear dresses on stage, as Bad Bunny has done, but it’s unclear which songs of his he’ll play in the name of “loving America.”
Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet said the show will reflect conservative values such as “faith, family, and freedom,” so Kid Rock likely won’t perform his 2001 track “Cool, Daddy Cool,” where he sings “Young ladies, young ladies, I like ‘em underage see / Some say that’s statutory, but I say it’s mandatory.” It’s also unlikely he’ll bust out his 2007 song “Lowlife (Living the Highlife)”: “I make Black music for the white man / Keep cocaine upon my nightstand.”
One thing is certain: He’ll continue to sing Trump’s praises, in English.
A few months back, a discussion broke out in the De Los chat about whether or not Bad Bunny would win album of the year at the 68th Grammy Awards for his LP “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”
I was firmly in the “yes” camp from the day the nominations were announced and I was right!
But if I’m being honest, I had my doubts that it would happen until the second that presenter Harry Styles called out the Puerto Rican singer’s name Sunday night.
Those in the “no” camp — who were still rooting for him to win — had history in their favor. It’s so rare for any major awards show, but especially the Grammys, to recognize artists at the peak of their powers. It’s almost as if these voting bodies feel that some (usually Black) artists must go through a weird humiliation ritual before being deemed worthy.
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Really it was less so that I believed Bad Bunny would win as much as I felt that he needed to win.
The past year has been exceedingly trying for the Latinx community as Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have been conducted throughout the country. It has oftentimes felt as though being Latinx — looking a certain way, speaking Spanish, having certain names — is a crime. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen videos of or heard heartbreaking stories of Latinx people being separated from their families, harassed or even killed due to activities of federal agents.
So even if it was just a moment of recognition for Bad Bunny, I had a lot riding on one win for Latinx people. A win for an album that is unapologetically in Spanish, explored ideas of resistance toward colonization and dared to be joyful, would mean something to me.
When he won, I had the same reaction as him. I couldn’t believe it and I cried — genuine tears in my Latina eyes.
It felt like an acknowledgment that Latinx people exist and matter. I was also moved when he explicitly shouted out immigrant and Latinx communities. There was just something that felt radical, too, in him giving the majority of his acceptance speech in Spanish.
De Los writer Andrea Flores also had faith in Bad Bunny’s Grammys viability from the very beginning.
“I knew Bad Bunny was going to win big at the Grammy Awards the moment he released this album,” she told me. “Bad Bunny made music for Puerto Rico, and the world listened.”
“I cried when I saw that Bad Bunny won album of the year. For me, it felt like sweet vindication for Latinx artists — reggaetoneros, more specifically — who have long been ignored, and at times vilified, by mainstream media for so many years. But what made me even more emotional was seeing posts on X showing Bad Bunny in 2016 as a bag boy at a local Puerto Rican supermarket. He looks familiar in that picture, like a cousin, brother or childhood friend. That was only 10 years ago. It’s proof to me that so much can change if you believe in your art and in yourself.”
It’s weird that a Latinx artist from an American colony is the most powerful cultural figure in the country at the same time that Latinx people face the most tenuous situation in the U.S. that I’ve seen in my life.
When Bad Bunny takes the stage for the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, I wish he’d get up there and call out ICE again on an even-bigger stage or do some kind of spectacular act of protest against the vile political class that has always and continues to push through discriminatory policies against non-white communities.
It’d be awesome if that happens, but even if it doesn’t, there will still be something profoundly radical about him simply being there and performing exclusively in Spanish.
(Jackie Rivera / For The Times; Martina Ibáñez-Baldor / Los Angeles Times)
The latest on Trump’s immigration enforcement
(Joel Angel Juarez / Getty Images)
After killing two U.S. citizens, forcibly extracting immigrants and using force against protestors, some 700 federal agents are being pulled out of Minnesota. About 2,000 officers will remain in the state, White House border czar Tom Homan said early this week.
On Tuesday, immigration officers in Minneapolis pulled their guns on and arrested protestors who were trailing their vehicles, the AP reported.
The duo was released thanks to a ruling from the U.S. District Judge Fred Biery.
“[T]he case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
Stories we read this week that we think you should read
Unless otherwise noted, stories below were published by the Los Angeles Times.
Bad Bunny is constantly making history. Last Sunday he broke a new record by winning album of the year at the Grammys for his 2025 album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” which was the first fully Spanish-language album to claim the title; and come Feb. 8, a.k.a. Super Bowl Sunday, he’ll be the headlining act at the Super Bowl halftime show.
Yet he is also teaching history. Bad Bunny’s latest record is not only a celebration of Puerto Rico and its people, but it offers a window into some of the challenges the embattled territory is currently facing — including massive migration, displacement and an infrastructure on the brink of collapse. In a moment when education is under attack, both in the United States and Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny is using pop culture’s biggest stage to offer the world a history lesson. And in this political context, that matters greatly.
In December 2024, I was contacted by Bad Bunny’s team to produce 17 pages outlining Puerto Rican history, to pair with each song’s YouTube visualizer for “DTMF.” Altogether, they have been viewed more than 775 million times.
I later produced 40 slides jam-packed with historical and cultural facts about Puerto Rico, which were screened at Bad Bunny’s 31-show residency in San Juan. These ranged from facts about the history of women’s suffrage to the founding of Puerto Rico’s oldest punk band, La Experiencia de Toñito Cabanillas.
When Bad Bunny was announced as the NFL’s choice to headline the halftime show, I was hardly surprised by the backlash from conservatives — including multiple Fox News hosts, podcasters and even President Trump, who said, “I don’t know who he is. I don’t know why they’re doing it … [It’s] crazy.”
As communities of color celebrated on social media, critics raised two questions: Why would a Spanish-speaking artist — even if he is the most-streamed artist on Earth — be chosen for that stage? And why wouldn’t they choose a more patriotic, Anglo-American artist?
While undoubtedly xenophobic in nature, these questions highlight their acute ignorance about the place that birthed Bad Bunny, and its ongoing entanglement with the United States.
Puerto Rico was first colonized by the Spanish from 1493 until 1898, the year that the United States occupied the country as part of the Spanish-American War. Later, in 1917, Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens through the Jones Law. Eventually, we drafted a constitution and became a Commonwealth of the United States in 1952. But there is never one single historical narrative.
What these facts occlude, however, is that Puerto Ricans are second-class citizens who cannot vote for the president — and those in the archipelago are not fully protected by the U.S. Bill of Rights. According to the U.S. Supreme Court’s early-20th century Insular Cases, we belong to the United States, but we are not part of it.
Put simply: We are a colony of the United States in the 21st century.
When drafting the historical narratives for “DTMF,” Bad Bunny understood that Puerto Rican history is often unknown, even to our own people. He was interested in making history available for those who don’t have access to higher education. He wanted me to write these narratives in a candid manner to be read by people in the barriadas y caserios (working-class neighborhoods and the projects). These were the places where I came of age in Puerto Rico.
With the success of “DTMF,” Puerto Rican history was amplified to the world. I’ve had countless conversations with journalists from around the globe, who marveled at how little they knew about Puerto Rico’s history or its relationship to the United States. This is precisely what I think drives those debates about language and who gets the right to claim Americanness — a lack of information.
And even though Bad Bunny is a U.S. citizen, conservatives have organized an alternative “All-American Halftime Show,” which reveals how “Americanness” is policed through language and race. This is the product of willful ignorance.
Puerto Rico’s history is also that of Latin American, Caribbean, United States and Latinx communities. I believe Bad Bunny’s performance will invite people to understand the beauty and complexity of our people’s history, even if it makes outsiders uncomfortable. That he will also be doing so entirely in Spanish in a moment when Latinx people in the United States are being arrested or interrogated by federal agents for speaking in Spanish — or simply for having an accent? That matters.
Of course, artists alone will not save us from the perils of racism and xenophobia — I learned that from my time in the punk community. We cannot just wait on anyone, especially not celebrities, to change institutions without some people power to back them up.
Yet given his enormous reach — just this week his latest album hit No. 1 on Apple Music in China — Bad Bunny has the power to move the cultural needle. And if there’s one thing to take from the Grammys ceremony last Sunday, it’s that he’s not alone — other artists have taken a stand on anti-immigrant violence. They are living up to the moment. That matters too.
So while conservatives organize their bland counter to the Super Bowl halftime show — with none other than Kid Rock as headliner — Bad Bunny will be offering the world a much more valuable history lesson, full of sazón, batería y reggaetón.
Jorell Meléndez-Badillo is the author of “Puerto Rico: A National History”and associate professor of Latin American and Caribbean History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Following Bad Bunny’s landmark album of the year win at the 68th Grammy Awards for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” Ricky Martin penned a letter of appreciation to commemorate the moment.
In an opinion piece for the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día published Tuesday, the Boricua hitmaker said Bad Bunny’s accomplishment stirred deep feelings within him.
“Benito, brother, seeing you win three Grammy Awards, one of them for album of the year, with a production entirely in Spanish, touched me deeply,” Martin wrote. “Not only as an artist, but as a Puerto Rican who has walked stages around the world carrying his language, his accent and his history.”
In addition to becoming the first all-Spanish album of the year winner, the “Nuevayol” artist took home the Grammy Awards for música urbana album and global music performance for the track “EoO” on Sunday.
Martin further called Bad Bunny’s achievement a “human” and “cultural” win, lauding him for not bending to the will of anyone who tried to change his sound in any way.
“You won without changing the color of your voice. You won without erasing your roots. You won by staying true to Puerto Rico,” Martin wrote. “You stayed true to your language, your rhythms and your authentic narrative.”
Martin, who first broke out as a solo musical act in the mid-’90s, became an international superstar off the back of his Spanish-language hits including 1995’s “María,” 1998’s “Vuelve” and “Perdido Sin Ti.”
He reached a new strata of stardom after his track “La Copa de Vida” was used as the official anthem for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. That song charted in over 60 countries and was translated into English. He landed his biggest hit with “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” which was the lead single from his 1999 self-titled English album.
When accepting his album of the year award Sunday night, Bad Bunny addressed the crowd predominantly in Spanish and spoke of the strugglesof the immigrant experience.
“I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams,” he said in English.
“Puerto Rico, believe me when I say that we are so much bigger than 100 by 35 and there is nothing that exists that we can’t accomplish,” the “Dakiti” artist said in Spanish. “Thank God, thank you to the academy, thank you to all the people who have believed in me throughout my whole career. To all the people who worked on this album. Thank you, Mami, for giving birth to me in Puerto Rico. I love you.”
The 54-year-old singer also showed love to Bad Bunny for using his platform to show solidarity for vulnerable communities.
“What touched me most about seeing you on the Grammys stage was the audience’s silence when you spoke,” Martin wrote. “When you defended the immigrant community, when you called out a system that persecutes and separates, you spoke from a place I know very well where fear and hope coexist, where millions live between languages, borders and deferred dreams.”
Martin concluded his letter by thanking Bad Bunny for reminding him and showing other Puerto Ricans that there is power in being true and authentic to yourself.
“This achievement is for a generation to whom you taught that their identity is non-negotiable and that success is not at odds with authenticity,” Martin wrote.
“This was for Puerto Ricans, for all our Latino brothers and sisters who dream in Spanish, for those crossing seas and borders wearing their cultures like a flag. From the heart, from one Boricua to another, with respect and love, I thank you for reminding us that when one of ours succeeds, we all succeed.”
Heart of Midlothian manager Derek McInnes believes James Wilson has made a mistake by joining Tottenham Hotspur on loan in a deal that could be made permanent at the end of the season.
Arsenal were in talks with the Scottish Premiership leaders over a move for the 18-year-old but the Scotland striker joined Spurs instead.
Wilson, who became the youngest man to represent Scotland when he came on in their Nations League play-off tie against Greece last March, will play for Spurs’ Under-21s side.
He has scored eight goals in 45 appearances since making his Hearts breakthrough last season but he has struggled for game time this term.
“James wanted to go, so you don’t want to keep a player who then becomes unhappy,” said McInnes.
“I couldn’t guarantee him minutes, such is the way it’s been. I told him and his agent that our preference was to stay, fight for his place, be part of something.
“We’d get him a loan in Scotland if need be, to top his minutes up, and we can maybe recall him – still get the best of both worlds.
Bad Bunny’s “Débi Tirar Más Fotos” was named album of the year at Sunday night’s 68th Grammy Awards — the first time a Spanish-language LP has won the Recording Academy’s most prestigious prize.
Bunny delivered the speech primarily in Spanish.
“I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams,” he said as the audience rose to its feet.
“Puerto Rico, believe me when I say that we are so much bigger than 100 by 35 and there is nothing that exists that we can’t accomplish,” he said in Spanish. “Thank God, thank you to the academy, thank you to all the people who have believed in me throughout my whole career. To all the people who worked on this album. Thank you, mami, for giving birth to me in Puerto Rico. I love you.”
“For all the people who have lost a loved one and even then have had to continue moving forward and continue with so much strength, this award is for you all.”
Intricately arranged with the sounds of the singer and rapper’s native Puerto Rico, “Débi Tirar Más Fotos” was released to rave reviews in January 2025 and quickly reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Last summer, Bad Bunny supported the project with a 30-date concert residency at San Juan’s José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum; he followed that with the announcement of a world tour that avoided the United States, in part, he told I-D magazine, because of his concern that immigration agents might turn up at shows.
Prior to Sunday’s win, “Débi Tirar Más Fotos” — the title translates in English to “I Should Have Taken More Photos” — was named album of the year at November’s Latin Grammy Awards. Next weekend, Bad Bunny (whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) will headline the halftime show at Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara.
He won earlier in the night for música urbana album and global music performance.
The other LPs nominated for album of the year were Justin Bieber’s “Swag,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Man’s Best Friend,” Clipse’s “Let God Sort Em Out,” Lady Gaga’s “Mayhem,” Kendrick Lamar’s “GNX,” Leon Thomas’ “Mutt” and Tyler, the Creator’s “Chromakopia.”
In 2025, Beyoncé took the prize with “Cowboy Carter.”
If 31-year-old Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny wins the Grammy for album of the year Sunday, it will be the first time the award goes to a Spanish-language LP. A week later the singer, known as “the King of Latin Trap,” will headline the Super Bowl halftime show.
These twin feats by one of the world’s most famous performers — a proud Latino and a vocal critic of President Trump’s stance on immigration — plays out against the heartbreaking and chaotic backdrop of the federal government’s aggressive tactics on the streets of American cities, including Minneapolis, where two citizens were shot dead by federal agents.
For the record:
3:12 p.m. Jan. 30, 2026In the “On our radar” section of the newsletter, the item on “Beginnings: The Story of Creation in the Middle Ages” at the Getty mischaracterized the exhibition. The show primarily draws from the Getty’s collection of manuscripts, which are displayed alongside four works by contemporary artist Harmonia Rosales.
This is likely why a painting by an L.A.-based Puerto Rican artist named Ektor Rivera, a reimagining of Emanuel Leutze’s iconic 1852 painting, ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware,” is attracting a wave of attention online. An Instagram post about the painting by Rivera — which features Bad Bunny alongside a host of other Puerto Rican cultural heroes, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sonia Sotomayor and Tito Puente — has more than 170,000 likes and 2.3 million views, spurred in part by the fact that Ricky Martin, who is also featured in the tableau, shared it.
Titled “The Discovery of Americans,” the 5’ x 8’ acrylic-on-canvas painting was commissioned by Seth Goldberg, a talent agent who spent his career working with Latin celebrities from his homebase in Miami. In a phone interview, Golberg said he felt disappointed by the controversy that erupted after the announcement that Bad Bunny would play at the Super Bowl — particularly when people didn’t seem to realize that as a Puerto Rican the singer is an American.
A detail of “The Discovery of Americans,” Ektor Rivera, acrylic on canvas, 2025.
(Ektor Rivera)
“And I thought that maybe if we reframe that Leutze painting with these cultural icons, maybe it changes who we see and celebrate as American, or at least makes a few people think about it a little more,” Goldberg said.
Rivera, who met Goldberg at a dinner with his manager five years ago, ran with the idea, placing a cast of Puerto Rican luminaries in the famous rowboat alongside Bad Bunny — who is draped in the Puerto Rican flag and standing in Washington’s place.
“As a Puerto Rican, I have U.S. citizenship, but I’m still asked if I have my green card,” Rivera said in a recent phone interview. “The people who voluntarily don’t want to learn about the great aportación [contributions] Latinos are giving to this country, and in my case, Puerto Ricans, is really frustrating, and how ICE is dealing with our people is something that is very sad.”
It is notable in the painting that the boat is literally breaking the ice on the river as it moves across the water, Rivera said.
Rivera — a graduate of the School of Plastic Arts and Design of Puerto Rico — is also an actor. He starred in a Puerto Rican production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s early musical, “In the Heights,” during which time he met the famous actor and composer. Miranda and his father, Luis Miranda, later commissioned Rivera to paint a portrait of Rita Moreno, which now hangs in Centro de Bellas Artes de Santurce in San Juan.
The joy Moreno showed when the painting was unveiled has stayed with Rivera, who now lives and works in Santa Clarita. He is raising his children to know and love their Latin heritage — during a trying time when Latinos are often denigrated by the current administration.
Trump recently told the New York Post that he won’t be going to the Super Bowl this year, noting of Bad Bunny and the band Green Day, which will open the telecast, that he is “anti-them.”
“I think it’s a terrible choice,” Trump said. “All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.”
In Rivera’s painting, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara — where the Super Bowl will take place this year — can be seen on the horizon. Those in the boat are smiling. They are looking forward to being part of the mix. It’s a loving representation, filled with hope and possibility.
“We’re celebrating that we are putting our identity as Latinos on one of the major stages in the world,” said Rivera. “And that’s huge. That’s going to educate people, and make them interested.”
America, Rivera said, is not just for certain people.
“America is everybody. America is the world.”
I’m arts editor Jessica Gelt and I’ll be rooting for Bad Bunny at the Grammys this weekend. Here’s your arts and culture news for the week.
On our radar
“Creation” by Harmonia Rosales, 2025. Oil, gold leaf, gold paint and iron oxide on panel. 121.9 × 91.4 cm (48 × 36 in.).
Beginnings: The Story of Creation in the Middle Ages The Getty exhibition explores how people in the Middle Ages imagined the creation of the world through manuscripts, alongside works by LA-based artist Harmonia Rosales, who utilizes West African Yoruba mythology and Black resilience and identity.
Through April 19. J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A. getty.edu
Tiffany Townsend performs Saturday and Sunday in Long Beach.
(Mia McNeal)
Crash Out Queens: A Tiffany Townsend Recital The soprano officially kicks off the Long Beach Opera’s season with an exploration of women in opera that expands into a multidisciplinary collaboration with pianist Lucy Yates, dancer Jasmine Albuquerque, scenic designer Prairie T. Trivuth and more. 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 4 p.m. Sunday. Altar Society, 230 Pine Ave. in Long Beach. longbeachopera.org
Midori Francis and Noah Keyishian rehearsing for “Sylvia Sylvia Syvia” at Geffen Playhouse.
(Jeff Lorch)
Sylvia Sylvia Sylvia A woman struggling with writer’s block and her own husband’s literary success takes refuge in the Boston apartment once occupied by Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes in the world premiere of this tragicomic thriller from playwright Beth Hyland. Directed by Jo Bonney. Wednesday through March 8. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. geffenplayhouse.org
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
Soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha appears with the L.A. Phil Friday and Saturday.
(LA Phil)
Mahler, Bartók & Ravel Dudamel Fellow Elim Chan conducts the L.A. Phil in a program culminating with Mahler’s Fourth Symphony featuring South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha. 11 a.m. Friday; 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
Miles Davis Centennial Concert The Miles Electric Band, led by Emmy- and Grammy Award-winning producer/drummer Vince Wilburn Jr., features a fusion of Miles Davis alumni and next-generation talents, including Darryl Jones, Robert Irving III, Munyungo Jackson, Jean-Paul Bourelly, Antoine Roney, Keyon Harrold and DJ Logic, plus special guests. 8 p.m. Friday. Carpenter Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach. carpenterarts.org
Lifeline Written by Robert Axelrod and directed by Ken Sawyer, this drama finds a mother volunteering at a suicide hotline following a life-altering event. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays, through March 1. The Road Theatre, NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. roadtheatre.org
101 Dalmatians The 65th anniversary release of the Disney animated classic gets a one-week run in movie palace splendor. Tickets are $10 and include a complimentary small popcorn. 10 a.m., 1, 4 and 7 p.m. daily, through Thursday. El Capitan Theatre, 6838 Hollywood Blvd. elcapitantheatre.com
“metal mettle metal mettle” by Steve Roden, 2020. Acrylic with paper collage
(Robert Wedemeyer/Courtesy Vielmetter Los Angeles)
Steve Roden/Sophie Calle A pair of new exhibitions open today in Orange County: ‘Wandering” focuses on the late Los Angeles–based artist Steve Roden’s works on paper, presenting drawings and collages as forms of travel without a set destination; and “Overshare” is a survey of French conceptual artist Sophie Calle’s photography, text, video and installation work that mines intimate relationships and chance encounters. Through May 24. UC Irvine Langson/Orange County Museum of Art, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. ocma.art
Sweeney Todd Jason Alexander directs Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s musical thriller about the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and has assembled a topflight cast led by Tony nominee Will Swenson and Olivier Award winner Lesli Margherita. Through Feb. 22. La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd. lamiradatheatre.com
SATURDAY Garrick Ohlsson and Richard O’Neill Pianist Ohlsson and violist O’Neill team up for an evening of Schubert and Rachmaninoff. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Broad Stage, Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St. broadstage.org
SUNDAY Common Ground The Los Angeles Master Chorale performs the world premiere of “The Beatitudes” by five-time Emmy Award-winning composer Jeff Beal, who will play the piano and flugelhorn, and Henryk Górecki’s “Miserere,” inspired by the 1980s Polish Solidarity movement. 7 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. lamasterchorale.org
TUESDAY
Jacob Aune, left, and Sam McLellan in the North American tour of “The Book of Mormon.”
(Julieta Cervantes)
The Book of Mormon The latest national tour of the Broadway smash comes to town. When the show had its L.A. debut at the Pantages in 2012, Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote, “Just know that this exceedingly naughty, though in the end disarmingly nice, show is devised by the minds behind ‘South Park’ and that risqué ‘Sesame Street’ for theater-loving adults, ‘Avenue Q.’ In other words, leave the kids at home with a baby-sitter” Through Feb. 15. Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Feb 24-25. The Granada Theatre, 1214 State St., Santa Barbara. thebookofmormontour.com
Adams, Cheung & Lanao John Adams curates the third installment of the LA Phil Etudes, highlighting the orchestra’s principal musicians in solo pieces by contemporary composers Francisco Coll, Samuel Adams, Nico Muhly, Sílvia Lanao and Anthony Cheung. 8 p.m. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
Dr. Strangelove Steve Coogan plays four roles in this screening of the National Theatre stage adaptation of the 1964 Stanley Kubrick film recorded live in London. 7 p.m. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
THURSDAY
Cheyenne Jackson plays the Wallis Thursday night.
(Vince Truspin)
Cheyenne Jackson The Broadway heartthrob performs a “musical memoir” with tunes made famous by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Sam Smith and Chappell Roan, plus his own song “Ok,” detailing his father’s unconditional love for his gay son. 7:30 p.m. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
— Kevin Crust
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Eddie Izzard brings Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to Los Angeles in a new solo staging, adapted by Mark Izzard and directed by Selina Cadell.
(Carol Rosegg)
Eddie channels tragedy Times theater critic Charles McNulty weighed in on the gender-fluid British comedian Eddie Izzard’s solo performance of “Hamlet,” running through Sunday at the Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood. McNulty calls the show “a daredevil feat of memory, theatrical bravado and cardio fitness,” noting that, “As a spectacle, it’s as exhilarating as it is exhausting. The thrill of seeing a fearless, indefatigable performer single-handedly populate the stage with the myriad figures of this masterwork never lets up. But fatigue can’t help setting in once it becomes clear that this marathon drama will be delivered in the broadest of strokes.”
Father and son McNulty also headed to Matrix Theatre’s Henry Murray Stage to catch a Rogue Machine world premiere of L.A. writer Justin Tanner’s solo show, “My Son the Playwright.” McNulty calls Tanner “one of the signal voices of L.A.’s wild and free intimate theater scene.” The show is divided into two acts, one that presents the father’s side of the relationship, and the other, the son’s. “Tanner plunges into these ostentatiously autobiographical roles, heedlessly, hectically and without a psychiatric net,” McNulty writes.
Academy cuts Arts and entertainment writer Malia Mendez got the scoop that the Academy Foundation laid off all five staffers with its Oral History Projects team, “effectively dissolving the department responsible for conducting and preserving interviews with notable members of the film industry.” In a statement posted on social media, the Academy Foundation Workers Union, AFSCME Local 126, called the cuts “a sad and reckless choice.” (Also, two of the laid-off staffers were placed in other roles in the organization.)
Breaking Glass I jumped on the news that composer Philip Glass abruptly canceled June’s world premiere of his Symphony No. 15 “Lincoln” at the Kennedy Center, saying its message does not align with the vision for the venue under the Trump administration. “Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony. Therefore, I feel an obligation to withdraw this Symphony premiere from the Kennedy Center under its current leadership,” Glass wrote Tuesday in a letter to the board that was shared with The Times.
The hits keep coming Speaking of the Kennedy Center: As the artistic losses continue to mount at the beleaguered performing arts center in the wake of President Trump’s takeover — and renaming — of the venue, the Washington Post reported that Kevin Couch, who was recently announced as the new senior vice president of artistic programming for the venue, resigned less than two weeks later. No reason was given, and Couch declined a Post request for comment.
50 is nifty In happier local news, San Diego’s Opera Neo — a summer opera festival and young artist training program — celebrating its 50th anniversary season, and has announced its upcoming lineup. Highlights include Antonio Vivaldi’s, “Arsilda,” Louise Bertin’s “Fausto” and Gioachino Rossini’s “Il turco in Italia.”
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