Praise & Worship artist Cory Asbury, previously associated with the International House of Prayer – Kansas City and known for his controversial hit “Reckless Love,” was inspired by Bad Bunny headlining next February’s Super Bowl Halftime Show to create a “family-friendly” alternative. Instead of tuning in to Sunday’s activities, Asbury invited other Christian artists to join him in what he’s calling a “wholesome” counterpart to the ten-minute performance.

The timing of this “conviction” feels oddly familiar. It arrives just as many white Americans — including President Trump — decry the NFL’s cultural direction. Since Jay-Z and Roc Nation took over halftime production in 2019, the show has produced bigger productions. Jay-Z himself once drew the line in 2017, declaring, “I said no to the Super Bowl, you need me, I don’t need you.” Yet Asbury, previously silent through years of hip-hop, pop, and Shakira’s hips, seems newly stirred by the idea of a performance entirely in Spanish.

Despite this not being Bad Bunny’s first Super Bowl appearance, Asbury insists the issue is about protecting families from “stuff you don’t want to see [and] hear.” Viewers, he suggests, have no choice but to endure it — apparently forgetting the option, in the words of Kendrick Lamar, to simply turn the TV off.

As a big sister and a woman working in K–12 education, my heart has always been with the children. Yet the selective concern for their welfare has long been used as a dog whistle — one that often polices women’s bodies and the artistic expression of Black and brown people in particular. I’ve always wondered why that same concern never inspires calls for stricter gun laws or safer schools. From these same artists who have no songs for the victims of after-school shootings, lynchings, and deportations, but will perform and laud a man who encouraged the freedom of arms even at the expense of lives — including his own. Tell me, where are your hymns then?

Like many fans, I’m left asking: if Blake Shelton, Reba, or another white American artist were taking the stage this February, would the “Holy Bowl” still be necessary? Or is the true offense the spectacle — the unapologetic pride of a globally influential Puerto Rican man — that suddenly warrants an emergency altar call to steer our attention elsewhere?

Baqdami: The Refrains Vol 1.1