Logan Paul praised Super Bowl halftime performers and took his boxing brother, Jake Paul, to task late Sunday after the latter called six-time Grammy winner Bad Bunny a "fake American."
Logan Paul, 30, the internet star and influencer, said he loves his brother but couldn't let him slide over incendiary comments he made about Bad Bunny, the popular musician who grew up in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico — a family divide that encapsulated the national controversy over Bad Bunny's show.
"I love my brother but I don’t agree with this," Logan Paul wrote late Sunday on X.
"Puerto Ricans are Americans & I’m happy they were given the opportunity to showcase the talent that comes from the island," Logan Paul said.
Several hours earlier, Jake Paul, 29, vowed on X to turn off the Super Bowl when Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, took the stage. He framed his disdain for Bad Bunny as a grassroots campaign against corporate America.
"Purposefully turning off the halftime show," he said.
"Let’s rally together and show big corporations they can’t just do whatever they want without consequences (which equals viewership for them). You are their benefit. Realize you have power. Turn off this halftime. A fake American citizen performing who publicly hates America. I cannot support that."
A community note attached to Jake Paul's anti-Bad Bunny message reminded readers that the Puerto Rican native is, in fact, an American — just like fellow island resident Jake Paul.
Puerto Rican residents have been identified as U.S. citizens since 1917, according to the note.
"Additionally, Jake Paul, who has lived in Puerto Rico since 2021, still would technically qualify as a US citizen," the note added.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., whose parents both trace their roots to Puerto Rico, also tore into Jake Paul on Monday, accusing him of moving to the island territory "to avoid paying your taxes while kids across America go hungry."
"Meanwhile Benito actually funds low income kids’ access to arts and sports programs, while you defund them," she said in a statement. "Of course you’re mad. He makes you look small."
Jake Paul began clarifying his original comments Monday morning, saying he wasn't calling anyone's actual citizenship status into question.
"I wasn’t calling anyone a 'fake citizen' because they’re from Puerto Rico. I live in Puerto Rico, and I love Puerto Rico," he wrote on X.
He equated criticism of recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions to "being a fake citizen."
"But if you’re publicly criticizing ICE who are doing their job and openly hating on America, I’m going to speak on it," Jake Paul said. "If you benefit from a country and the platform it gives you, but publicly disrespect it at the same time, that’s what I mean by being a fake citizen."
A week before the Super Bowl, Bad Bunny took the stage at the Grammys as he won the award for best música urbana album for “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” and declared "ICE out."
“We’re not savage. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans,” he said in his acceptance speech.
Football fans who didn't want to watch Bad Bunny had the option of streaming an alternative halftime show, headlined by Kid Rock.
The Turning Point USA event lasted about 30 minutes, longer than the Bad Bunny show from Levi's Stadium. Kid Rock sang a cover of "Til You Can't," adding some extra lyrics about Jesus.
The show also started and ended with tributes to the late Turning Point co-founder Charlie Kirk.
In a longwinded social media complaint about the Super Bowl on Sunday, President Donald Trump derided Bad Bunny's show as "absolutely terrible" and didn't appreciate lyrics in Spanish: "Nobody understands a word this guy is saying."
Trump went on to blast the "disgusting" dancing before he praised the stock market and called for an end to the NFL's "ridiculous new Kickoff Rule."
Former "Real Housewives of New York" cast member Jill Zarin also beefed about Bad Bunny's performance, calling it "the worst halftime show ever” and complaining there weren't enough white people onstage.
“I don’t speak Spanish; I would’ve liked to have known the words that he was saying,” Zarin said in a now deleted Instagram video posted shortly after Bad Bunny's performance. “To me it looked like a political statement, because there were literally no white people in the entire thing.”
Lady Gaga, who is white, was featured prominently in the halftime show.
