Too spicy for open TV?
Again. An American politician, Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee, has decided that the Super Bowl LX halftime show, headlined by Bad Bunny, was an “indecent exhibition.” And it doesn’t stop at the indignant tweet: he has sent a formal letter asking for a congressional investigation.
The complaint goes directly against the NFL and NBC Universal. Ogles alleges that they knew what Bad Bunny was going to do and did not put the famous “safeguards” in place to protect the public. Its star argument: millions of families, with children, saw “sexualized” choreography and lyrics with explicit references.
“Children were forced to endure explicit displays of homosexual sexual acts, women strutting provocatively, and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his crotch,” Ogles wrote in a post sharing his letter.
The congressman was specific. He names songs like “Safaera” and “Yo Perreo Sola,” saying they glorify inappropriate behavior. And here comes a curious detail: he acknowledges that the songs are in Spanish, but argues that “the language barrier did not mitigate the explicit nature of the material.” Basically, it says that perreo can be understood in any language.
A new ‘Nipplegate’?
This inevitably leads us to compare. The last big halftime show scandal was in 2004, with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. Nipplegate. That ended with a million-dollar fine for the CBS network.
Now, Ogles wants the Energy and Commerce Commission to investigate whether there was a similar violation of decency rules on the public airwaves. He even had an unexpected ally in his criticism: former President Donald Trump, who called the show “one of the worst” and a “slap in the face to our country.”
Meanwhile, the rest of the world looks on in bewilderment. For many, it was simply a massive concert from one of the biggest artists on the planet. But in the American political-cultural game, a twerk can quickly become fodder for a congressional hearing.
