Bad Bunny Has Some Words for Super Bowl Critics on SNL

Bad Bunny kicked off the 51st season of Saturday Night Live with a few timely jokes about his next high-profile gig: the Super Bowl. "I think everybody is happy about it—even Fox News," the music superstar quipped in his monologue, referring to opposition in some quarters to his being named headliner of the Super Bowl halftime show. He segued into a few sentences in Spanish, reports the AP, expressing Latino pride and joy over the achievement, after which he noted: "If you didn't understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!" Bad Bunny will be making history by performing entirely in Spanish, a landmark moment for Latino culture.

Launching a season that introduces some new faces in the cast, the show's cold open featured a sketch mocking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's presentation to generals earlier this week. Weekend Update host Colin Jost played Hegseth, highlighting the defense secretary's remarks in which he said it's "tiring to look out at combat formations or really any formation and see fat troops." "No fatties, no facial hair, no body hair," Jost said. "Just hot, shredded hairless men who are definitely not gay. ... Because this is serious, we are facing the greatest threat to freedom and democracy the world has ever known. And we all know what that threat is." "Late night TV!" replied James Austin Johnson as President Trump, bursting in. "SNL 51 off to a rough start," Johnson added. "Seventeen new cast members and they got the Update guy doing the open."

Bad Bunny is having what can only be described as an enormous week: in addition to hosting SNL, he's coming off a historic residency in Puerto Rico, and on Sunday came the Super Bowl news. His moment in the spotlight hasn't come without some political discourse. The Puerto Rican artist has said one of the reasons his residency bypassed the continental US was a concern that ICE officials could target immigrants for deportation outside his shows. The issue made for a key joke in Weekend Update. "A Trump adviser said ICE agents will attend the Super Bowl after Bad Bunny was announced as the halftime performer," noted co-host Michael Che, then quipping: "You know, to catch all those farmworkers who can afford Super Bowl tickets."