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Ricky Martin is sending support to Bad Bunny after the singer’s wins at the 2026 Grammys and discourse surrounding his Super Bowl LIX performance.
“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, 54, wrote to Bad Bunny, 31, in an open letter published via Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día on Tuesday, February 3. (Martin also shared a screenshot of the letter via his Instagram Stories.) “Not only as an artist, but as a Puerto Rican who has walked stages around the world carrying his language, his accent, and his story.”
Bad Bunny, who is also Puerto Rican, won Best Global Musical Performance for “EoO” and Best Música Urbana Album and Album of the Year for Debí Tirar Más Fotos at the 2026 Grammys on Sunday, February 1.
Martin continued, “I know what it means to succeed without letting go of where you come from. I know how heavy it is, what it costs, and what is sacrificed when you decide not to change because others ask you to. That’s why what you have achieved is not just a historic musical accomplishment, it’s a cultural and human victory. You won without changing the color of your voice. You won without erasing your roots. You won by staying true to Puerto Rico.”
Martin rose to fame as a member of the boy band Menudo in the late ‘80s. He then embarked on a solo career, gaining global recognition with his 1999 single “Livin’ la Vida Loca.” He is now one of the best-selling Latin artists of all time.
The singer-songwriter admitted that he felt “a lump in [his] throat” watching Bad Bunny accept his awards on Sunday.
“Something important is happening — not just for you, but for all of us,” Martin told Bad Bunny (real name: Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) in his letter. “What touched me most about seeing you there on the Grammys stage was the silence of the entire audience when you spoke.”
Martin then applauded Bad Bunny for speaking out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on stage, telling viewers, “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens — we are humans, and we are Americans.”
Martin wrote, “When you defended the immigrant community, when you pointed out a system that persecutes and separates, you spoke from a place I know very well, that place where fear and hope coexist, where millions live between languages, borders, and deferred dreams.”
Jay-Z is not buying into the backlash over Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show performance. The music mogul, whose Roc Nation produces the halftime show, reacted to “people hating on” Bad Bunny while speaking to a TMZ videographer in New York City on Monday, October 27. “They love him. Don’t let them fool you,” the […]
The “Maria” singer concluded, “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. 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.”
Amid his Grammy wins, Bad Bunny continues to face backlash for being chosen by the NFL to perform the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, February 8. Despite many conservative public figures demanding that Bad Bunny be replaced — and nonprofit organization Turning Point USA even creating an alternative halftime show headlined by Kid Rock — the NFL has doubled down on its decision.
“Bad Bunny, I think that was demonstrated last night, is one of the great artists in the world, and that’s one of the reasons we chose him,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said after the Grammys. “But the other reason is he understood the platform he was on. This platform is to unite people and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, with their talents, and to be able to use this moment to do that. I think artists in the past have done that. I think Bad Bunny understands that, and I think he’ll have a great performance.”
