By Zara Irshad,Staff Writer Nov 7, 2025 (SFChronicle.com)
Bad Bunny hasn’t even hit the Levi’s Stadium stage yet, but as debate over his upcoming Super Bowl LX performance continues, one organization plans to make a bold statement at the South Bay venue.
Public policy advocacy group MoveOn Civic Action has commissioned a banner that reads “No ICE at 2026 Super Bowl” to fly over the venue on Sunday, Nov. 9, before the San Francisco 49ers faceoff against the Los Angeles Rams. It’s scheduled to be in the air from 10:25 a.m. to 12:25 p.m. The Niners’ home game is scheduled to begin at 1:25 p.m.
The move comes amid heated discourse around Bad Bunny’s halftime show appearance, which some conservatives — including President Donald Trump — claim is unpatriotic. From the moment his selection was announced by the NFL in September, critics began disparaging the Grammy-winner’s Puerto Rican heritage (despite the island being a U.S. territory), his Spanish-language music and his political stances on topics such as LGBTQ+ rights, the Trump administration and immigration.
The artist’s past remarks about skipping the U.S. during his “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” tour out of fear for his Latino fans then resurfaced, prompting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to declare that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would be “all over the Super Bowl.”
In response, MoveOn launched a petition in an effort to prevent ICE officers from showing up for the big game.
“This is completely unacceptable,” the petition, launched on Oct. 7, reads. “We cannot let ICE terrorize our communities and our families at the largest single sporting event in the U.S.”
As of the evening of Friday, Nov. 7, it has earned more than 82,000 signatures.
MoveOn’s Sunday banner will also link to the petition.
Meanwhile, a petition to replace Bad Bunny with the “King of Country” George Strait, launched Oct. 1, continues to gain momentum As of Friday night, it has earned more than 109,000 signatures.
Virginia resident Kar Shell, who launched the effort, justified his argument by asserting that “The Super Bowl halftime show should unite our country, honor American culture, and remain family-friendly, not be turned into a political stunt.”
Nonetheless, the NFL and Jay-Z, who selected Bad Bunny along with Roc Nation and the city of Santa Clara, have doubled down on their support.
Additionally, Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor told the Chronicle last month that “we want to make sure that we protect everybody that comes to Santa Clara,” emphasizing that “this is an inclusive event.”
Nov 7, 2025
Staff Writer
Zara Irshad is the Chronicle’s Arts & Entertainment Engagement Reporter. She joined the Chronicle as a summer 2023 intern for the Datebook team. She is a recent graduate of UC San Diego, where she studied communications. She previously interned for the San Diego Union-Tribune and wrote for her campus newspaper, the Guardian, where she served as editor-in-chief. Irshad was part of the honors program for her major and double-minored in world literature and film studies.
