I'm sure you're right to argue that the Jewish world would benefit from more well known performers, but Bad Bunny (I don't think) should be held up as the example to imitate. His fame (or rather infamy) right now derives from offending millions Americans at an iconic American ritual, the Superbowl. His lyrics are pornographic and just plain stupid. As far as I can tell, he is being used to ideologically subvert and internally weaken the USA by undermining its traditions. He is not a positive role model. Prior to his sports event, I had never heard of him, and now I wish I hadn't.
That having been said, there are many great Jewish thinkers, artists, composers, comedians, and films -- too many to list -- that the world would do well to read, listen to, or watch.
135 million people tuned in to watch Bad Bunny. I don’t think he’s nearly as divisive or insulting as you think. Right now, he is THE hottest music performer in the world.
Thank you for the comment as it compels me to clarify and expand on my argument above. You say that Bad Bunny is the "hottest music performer in the world." If so, that's a sad commentary on the world and on the state of pop music in general. It's more likely that he is being deliberately promoted by a well-funded massive music industry machine and is being forced down our throats, just as we are forced to hear garbage synth-pop in groceries stores and malls and on the radio. In fifty or a hundred years time, Handel and Bach will be remembered and played. So will Elvis and the Beatles and Michael Jackson. But this guy?
The choice of this "singer" for the Superbowl was clearly subversive, designed to make traditional Americans feel like foreigners in their own country. The Superbowl is an American tradition, part of what sociologists term "American civil religion" (coined in 1967 by sociologist Robert Bellah in the essay 'Civil Religion in America'). That also includes the Fourth of July and the flag and the national anthem. But instead of a pro-American show in English (which is still the USA's only national language) it was in Spanish and without English subtitles. And there were flags there of Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. Clearly the NFL was promoting an open-borderless anti-American "post-national" identity at sports event widely associated with American patriotism. The symbolism of this was deliberate. Bad Bunny's show involved a football emblazoned with the slogan "Together We Are America", referring to North, Central, and South America rather than just the USA. But this is at a sports event that is central to the USA's cultural identity; thus it was rightly seen as an attack on it. The sub-text was a thinly veiled anti-ICE pro-open borders message. Bad Bunny made an anti-ICE statement at an award show, so it's not surprising that he used this moment to symbolically attack it, and by extension the USA.
So yes, it offended tens of millions of Americans, those who voted for secure borders and American patriotism. There is nothing wrong with patriotism. Israelis are patriotic and rightfully so. Americans are not allowed to be? This is why so many tuned into the alternative Turning Point USA halftime show instead, in protest of the NFL halftime show. Would it be considered appropriate in a Latin American country to have an English-speaking singer parading the flags of English-speaking countries? That singer would be booed and lucky to get out of the stadium alive. But Americans are polite so they listened to it in silence even as they were being insulted. Matt Walsh, part of the Daily Wire, did a great commentary on all this, which is how I became aware it since I am not a football fan.
Regarding deportations: I mentioned that this was the cultural sub-text. People would not dare to illegally cross over into a country like Saudi Arabia or Japan and fly flags of other countries in protest of their deportations, they would be arrested immediately. So why is it okay in the USA? The West is like a lifeboat that can take in only so many people from the third world, but if millions cross its borders and put a strain on social services and provide a pathway for human and drug trafficking, as well as potential terrorist attacks from unvetted illegal aliens, political leaders have a moral and legal duty to stop it. This was understood under the presidencies of Obama and Clinton but when Trump was elected, everything changed. Why? It is theorized that the DNC was attracted the possibility of a new voter base, even if it meant sacrificing American culture and sovereignty.
Imagine if Israel were to allow tens of thousands of unvetted people to cross its borders. Clearly that should never be allowed to happen for security reasons. Tragically, western Europe has allowed it, with devastating consequences as entire areas of Paris, London, and other major cities have been taken over by Islamists. Now we seen anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis defending among others, the Al-Shabaab Somalian terrorists -- protests funded in part by Communist China via Maoist tech mogul billionaire Neville Singham, and by the woke billionaires such as Melinda Gates who also funds pro-Palestinian activism in the USA.
Most of the show was not visible to those attending, being hidden by people dressed as bushes, to deliberately exclude their view. It also was hyper-sexualized and thus not appropriate for children. This show also had a gay performance with two men grinding on each other, which was deliberately subversive, meant to offend traditional Christians. The whole thing was designed as an insult to American viewers. It reminded me a great deal of the globalist playbook, which promotes controversial cultural issues as a way to divide people and weaken the country as a whole. Those doing this don't actually care about women or gay people or black people; they are using these groups to foment division. See Douglas Murray's excellent book on this dynamic: The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity.
For some time now, the West has been under sustained attack using various methods of ideological subversion in almost every area of life, including education and entertainment. The objective is to demoralize Westerners and to divide them as part of a cultural revolution. KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov explained this in detail decades ago. The USSR has since fallen, but globalists such as those that run the WEF, and Communist China (CCP), have continued where the USSR left off. The NFL, as well as the NBA and ESPN, have all be co-opted into this agenda through economic leverage; that is why they had BLM banners at games and players are forced to wear jerseys with Pride messaging that conflict with the faith of some of them. The CCP has been engaged in asymmetrical warfare against the USA for decades, and provides indirect support for this ideological subversion through sports teams, entertainment and the media. It is also engaged in election interference in Western nations.
Those doing this -- including numerous woke billionaires -- also fund anti-Israel protests and movements on American campuses. Jay-Z is among them, being a regular at WEF forums at Davos and involved in globalist initiatives and charities. He was in charge of choosing the performers for the NFL halftime show. According to the ADL, he has an antisemitic lyric in one of his songs: "You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America?" These same elites also promote mass immigration of Muslims to the West, whose presence increases antisemitic attacks. They are all for open borders, but live in gated communities. Antisemite Mayor Mamdani election is also emblematic of this anti-American globalist movements. It is not only WASPS who bear the brunt of this neo-Marxist revolution in the West.
What are you talking about? YOU are the one spreading disinformation. The half-time performer doesn’t draw their usual pay for the appearance, but they, certainly don’t pay the NFL. The league pays all production costs and personal expenses.
I also imagine it wasn’t Bad Bunny’s idea, initially. American-style football isn’t really popular in Puerto Rico even though they are Americans. I doubt the NFL normally has much of a Hispanic audience, so he probably wouldn’t have been the one to suggest it. The idea actually was brought to the NFL by Jay-Z.
And what you seem to want to ignore is that Bad Bunny is the hottest musical performer on the planet, which also was reflected in his Grammy win a week earlier. I, personally, tried to listen to him but didn’t like it. But I am not the world.
Perhaps Kid Rock with his pedo lyrics are more to your liking. And, frankly, I don’t believe you, like most people, know enough about journalism to do more than bandy about terms like “yellow journalism.”
Joshua could have picked a better example. If anything this guy created more anti Puerto Rican hate than they deserve. Jews have more than enough of it. Jewish stand up comedians have for years, since the borscht belt resorts, are recognized for uniquely Jewish sense of humor.
I saw him perform in front of a thousand people in NYC the week of the Bondi Beach Massacre. The crowd clearly felt the spiritual significance of the recent tragedy, and still it was every bit the rave, with smoking beats and a huge mirror-ball dreidel spinning on the ceiling. You talk about a cultural force that makes Jewishness feel confident cool and modern… All of those elements were there… To make it “unavoidable” requires amplification.
I think that a major issue is the way non-Jews view Jews vs the way they view Puerto Ricans. The latter fall into the “oppressed minority“ category, making their artists almost a cultural obligation. That’s not true for Jews.
There needs to be an acknowledgment that the US is the outlier of the Jewish Diaspora. The rest of the Diaspora has issues in the Jewish communities but nothing compared to the US. American Jewry is tainted with incredibly high assimilation rates, total lack of Jewish education for most young people and adults, and filled with self-hating Progressive Red Guards and old 60s hippies reliving their socialist youth, who fully support Hamas atrocities and the eradication of Israel. This is the direct result of long term major issues ignored for decades. Reform taught Jewish youth to despise Israel and demonize religious Jews by many of the Reform rabbis and leaders, and is a sect with a tinge of Judaism, Tikkun Olam, a tiny aspect of Judaism as their whole focus. This supports the decision in the 1990s to become a social activist sect, where we have witnessed these same entitled people standing up for every religious minority including those who would kill Jews in a second, but and a big but, except other Jews, unless they bow down to their new religion of Progressivism and now their new god, Marxism.
I'm all about Jews finding anything useful to us, relying on our cultural, artistic and spiritual strength; but Bad Bunny and his show were atrocious. Offensive even. There have been talented successful popular Jewish artists, like Matisyahu, and there are immensely better Latin artists than Bad Bunny. I wish I could unsee that show.
I think you are right. I think Ofra Haza really was a cultural icon in the 80's- more in Europe than the US and in the period I was growing up in the 60's, I think it was Jewish comics that held the torch for identity. It roped me in when I was protesting the restrictions of my parents and kept my identification strong.
I have seen Matisyahu when he was still in his hassidic stage. He is basically a jam band festival performer now and has no chance of a real cultural impact.
We have four top TV celebrities here in the UK who are proudly Jewish and get absolutely prime time slots in our Media here. British culture works more discreetly than the American: Perhaps less ‘swagger’ but with all sparky intellect and humour of true stars, and our Jewish stars no less bright for this. Here in The UK, we Jewish people certainly have already crossed into the Mainstream, and are successful across the culture.
Nowhere outside of Israel have Jews been more mainstreamed than the United States. Our entertainment and music industries are filled with people that many don't even realize are Jews because they don't talk about it or make it central to their identity or their act. Hundreds upon hundreds a disproportionate number in fact and many times more than anywhere else in the diaspora. Indeed while we have a growing antisemitism problem just like everywhere else, the United States remains the one actually philo-semitic country in the diaspora.
Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder were pretty brilliant in their day! The film The Producers was absolutely fantastically funny. But then we had Marty Feldman and Peter Sellers… Check.
Why not just post the lyrics sung by Bad Bunny? Based on the degeneracy of his words, if you agree that he's a cultural breakthrough for Puerto Rico than you easily deserve a one-way ticket to an empty K-Mart parking lot in Flint, Michigan.
There was a time when support for Israel was this. The movie Exodus starring Paul Newman began an era when pride in Israel was extreme in the diaspora. I have no idea what a modern Jewish Bad Bunny would look like but anything that doesnt include total defense of and support for the Zionist idea in general and Israel in particular is a non starter.
Joshua, I agree with you on almost everything you write but this time not. Would a Jewish Bad Bunny protect us from Iran and its proxies. Saved us from the Bondi Beach massacre? Our incredible music, dance, art travels the world for all to see but is often boycotted or cancelled. And yet we have an Israeli Bobsled team in the Olympics despite it all!!!
I'm sure you're right to argue that the Jewish world would benefit from more well known performers, but Bad Bunny (I don't think) should be held up as the example to imitate. His fame (or rather infamy) right now derives from offending millions Americans at an iconic American ritual, the Superbowl. His lyrics are pornographic and just plain stupid. As far as I can tell, he is being used to ideologically subvert and internally weaken the USA by undermining its traditions. He is not a positive role model. Prior to his sports event, I had never heard of him, and now I wish I hadn't.
That having been said, there are many great Jewish thinkers, artists, composers, comedians, and films -- too many to list -- that the world would do well to read, listen to, or watch.
135 million people tuned in to watch Bad Bunny. I don’t think he’s nearly as divisive or insulting as you think. Right now, he is THE hottest music performer in the world.
Thank you for the comment as it compels me to clarify and expand on my argument above. You say that Bad Bunny is the "hottest music performer in the world." If so, that's a sad commentary on the world and on the state of pop music in general. It's more likely that he is being deliberately promoted by a well-funded massive music industry machine and is being forced down our throats, just as we are forced to hear garbage synth-pop in groceries stores and malls and on the radio. In fifty or a hundred years time, Handel and Bach will be remembered and played. So will Elvis and the Beatles and Michael Jackson. But this guy?
The choice of this "singer" for the Superbowl was clearly subversive, designed to make traditional Americans feel like foreigners in their own country. The Superbowl is an American tradition, part of what sociologists term "American civil religion" (coined in 1967 by sociologist Robert Bellah in the essay 'Civil Religion in America'). That also includes the Fourth of July and the flag and the national anthem. But instead of a pro-American show in English (which is still the USA's only national language) it was in Spanish and without English subtitles. And there were flags there of Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. Clearly the NFL was promoting an open-borderless anti-American "post-national" identity at sports event widely associated with American patriotism. The symbolism of this was deliberate. Bad Bunny's show involved a football emblazoned with the slogan "Together We Are America", referring to North, Central, and South America rather than just the USA. But this is at a sports event that is central to the USA's cultural identity; thus it was rightly seen as an attack on it. The sub-text was a thinly veiled anti-ICE pro-open borders message. Bad Bunny made an anti-ICE statement at an award show, so it's not surprising that he used this moment to symbolically attack it, and by extension the USA.
So yes, it offended tens of millions of Americans, those who voted for secure borders and American patriotism. There is nothing wrong with patriotism. Israelis are patriotic and rightfully so. Americans are not allowed to be? This is why so many tuned into the alternative Turning Point USA halftime show instead, in protest of the NFL halftime show. Would it be considered appropriate in a Latin American country to have an English-speaking singer parading the flags of English-speaking countries? That singer would be booed and lucky to get out of the stadium alive. But Americans are polite so they listened to it in silence even as they were being insulted. Matt Walsh, part of the Daily Wire, did a great commentary on all this, which is how I became aware it since I am not a football fan.
Regarding deportations: I mentioned that this was the cultural sub-text. People would not dare to illegally cross over into a country like Saudi Arabia or Japan and fly flags of other countries in protest of their deportations, they would be arrested immediately. So why is it okay in the USA? The West is like a lifeboat that can take in only so many people from the third world, but if millions cross its borders and put a strain on social services and provide a pathway for human and drug trafficking, as well as potential terrorist attacks from unvetted illegal aliens, political leaders have a moral and legal duty to stop it. This was understood under the presidencies of Obama and Clinton but when Trump was elected, everything changed. Why? It is theorized that the DNC was attracted the possibility of a new voter base, even if it meant sacrificing American culture and sovereignty.
Imagine if Israel were to allow tens of thousands of unvetted people to cross its borders. Clearly that should never be allowed to happen for security reasons. Tragically, western Europe has allowed it, with devastating consequences as entire areas of Paris, London, and other major cities have been taken over by Islamists. Now we seen anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis defending among others, the Al-Shabaab Somalian terrorists -- protests funded in part by Communist China via Maoist tech mogul billionaire Neville Singham, and by the woke billionaires such as Melinda Gates who also funds pro-Palestinian activism in the USA.
Most of the show was not visible to those attending, being hidden by people dressed as bushes, to deliberately exclude their view. It also was hyper-sexualized and thus not appropriate for children. This show also had a gay performance with two men grinding on each other, which was deliberately subversive, meant to offend traditional Christians. The whole thing was designed as an insult to American viewers. It reminded me a great deal of the globalist playbook, which promotes controversial cultural issues as a way to divide people and weaken the country as a whole. Those doing this don't actually care about women or gay people or black people; they are using these groups to foment division. See Douglas Murray's excellent book on this dynamic: The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity.
For some time now, the West has been under sustained attack using various methods of ideological subversion in almost every area of life, including education and entertainment. The objective is to demoralize Westerners and to divide them as part of a cultural revolution. KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov explained this in detail decades ago. The USSR has since fallen, but globalists such as those that run the WEF, and Communist China (CCP), have continued where the USSR left off. The NFL, as well as the NBA and ESPN, have all be co-opted into this agenda through economic leverage; that is why they had BLM banners at games and players are forced to wear jerseys with Pride messaging that conflict with the faith of some of them. The CCP has been engaged in asymmetrical warfare against the USA for decades, and provides indirect support for this ideological subversion through sports teams, entertainment and the media. It is also engaged in election interference in Western nations.
Those doing this -- including numerous woke billionaires -- also fund anti-Israel protests and movements on American campuses. Jay-Z is among them, being a regular at WEF forums at Davos and involved in globalist initiatives and charities. He was in charge of choosing the performers for the NFL halftime show. According to the ADL, he has an antisemitic lyric in one of his songs: "You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America?" These same elites also promote mass immigration of Muslims to the West, whose presence increases antisemitic attacks. They are all for open borders, but live in gated communities. Antisemite Mayor Mamdani election is also emblematic of this anti-American globalist movements. It is not only WASPS who bear the brunt of this neo-Marxist revolution in the West.
So what? You like him because he’s popular? How to you buy music? Look at the Top Ten in sales? Use your own brain.
What are you talking about? YOU are the one spreading disinformation. The half-time performer doesn’t draw their usual pay for the appearance, but they, certainly don’t pay the NFL. The league pays all production costs and personal expenses.
I also imagine it wasn’t Bad Bunny’s idea, initially. American-style football isn’t really popular in Puerto Rico even though they are Americans. I doubt the NFL normally has much of a Hispanic audience, so he probably wouldn’t have been the one to suggest it. The idea actually was brought to the NFL by Jay-Z.
And what you seem to want to ignore is that Bad Bunny is the hottest musical performer on the planet, which also was reflected in his Grammy win a week earlier. I, personally, tried to listen to him but didn’t like it. But I am not the world.
Perhaps Kid Rock with his pedo lyrics are more to your liking. And, frankly, I don’t believe you, like most people, know enough about journalism to do more than bandy about terms like “yellow journalism.”
No, I don’t speak Spanish. But journalist, remember? Free speech. Not worried about profanity.
Joshua could have picked a better example. If anything this guy created more anti Puerto Rican hate than they deserve. Jews have more than enough of it. Jewish stand up comedians have for years, since the borscht belt resorts, are recognized for uniquely Jewish sense of humor.
Nobody needs a bad ffing bunny, but England needs an IDF
(And the rest of the U.K…)
Sorry … yes all home nations
Have you ever been to a Matisyahu concert?
Yes, just last year. He had potential but didn't make it big enough to make the impact I described in this essay.
I saw him perform in front of a thousand people in NYC the week of the Bondi Beach Massacre. The crowd clearly felt the spiritual significance of the recent tragedy, and still it was every bit the rave, with smoking beats and a huge mirror-ball dreidel spinning on the ceiling. You talk about a cultural force that makes Jewishness feel confident cool and modern… All of those elements were there… To make it “unavoidable” requires amplification.
I think he had a lot of potential earlier on - as he evolved into his current music, it didn't seem to draw in the same kind of audience.
Jewish culture will survive because Jews have a covenant with God, as do Christians....and the covenant is open to all who will open their hearts
What about Benny Friedman?
I think that a major issue is the way non-Jews view Jews vs the way they view Puerto Ricans. The latter fall into the “oppressed minority“ category, making their artists almost a cultural obligation. That’s not true for Jews.
There needs to be an acknowledgment that the US is the outlier of the Jewish Diaspora. The rest of the Diaspora has issues in the Jewish communities but nothing compared to the US. American Jewry is tainted with incredibly high assimilation rates, total lack of Jewish education for most young people and adults, and filled with self-hating Progressive Red Guards and old 60s hippies reliving their socialist youth, who fully support Hamas atrocities and the eradication of Israel. This is the direct result of long term major issues ignored for decades. Reform taught Jewish youth to despise Israel and demonize religious Jews by many of the Reform rabbis and leaders, and is a sect with a tinge of Judaism, Tikkun Olam, a tiny aspect of Judaism as their whole focus. This supports the decision in the 1990s to become a social activist sect, where we have witnessed these same entitled people standing up for every religious minority including those who would kill Jews in a second, but and a big but, except other Jews, unless they bow down to their new religion of Progressivism and now their new god, Marxism.
I'm all about Jews finding anything useful to us, relying on our cultural, artistic and spiritual strength; but Bad Bunny and his show were atrocious. Offensive even. There have been talented successful popular Jewish artists, like Matisyahu, and there are immensely better Latin artists than Bad Bunny. I wish I could unsee that show.
I think you are right. I think Ofra Haza really was a cultural icon in the 80's- more in Europe than the US and in the period I was growing up in the 60's, I think it was Jewish comics that held the torch for identity. It roped me in when I was protesting the restrictions of my parents and kept my identification strong.
Others have mentioned Matisyahu - I hope he has some crossover runway ahead of him…if anyone could do it in North America, he should be it.
I have seen Matisyahu when he was still in his hassidic stage. He is basically a jam band festival performer now and has no chance of a real cultural impact.
That’s unfortunate.
We have four top TV celebrities here in the UK who are proudly Jewish and get absolutely prime time slots in our Media here. British culture works more discreetly than the American: Perhaps less ‘swagger’ but with all sparky intellect and humour of true stars, and our Jewish stars no less bright for this. Here in The UK, we Jewish people certainly have already crossed into the Mainstream, and are successful across the culture.
Really? I think the only person close to what Josh is describing, in the UK is Sasha Baron Cohen.
And of course his fame was obtained in Hollywood.
Nowhere outside of Israel have Jews been more mainstreamed than the United States. Our entertainment and music industries are filled with people that many don't even realize are Jews because they don't talk about it or make it central to their identity or their act. Hundreds upon hundreds a disproportionate number in fact and many times more than anywhere else in the diaspora. Indeed while we have a growing antisemitism problem just like everywhere else, the United States remains the one actually philo-semitic country in the diaspora.
Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder were pretty brilliant in their day! The film The Producers was absolutely fantastically funny. But then we had Marty Feldman and Peter Sellers… Check.
Why’d you even watch it when you could have seen the other show on TBN???!!
Ishay Ribo
Why not just post the lyrics sung by Bad Bunny? Based on the degeneracy of his words, if you agree that he's a cultural breakthrough for Puerto Rico than you easily deserve a one-way ticket to an empty K-Mart parking lot in Flint, Michigan.
There was a time when support for Israel was this. The movie Exodus starring Paul Newman began an era when pride in Israel was extreme in the diaspora. I have no idea what a modern Jewish Bad Bunny would look like but anything that doesnt include total defense of and support for the Zionist idea in general and Israel in particular is a non starter.
Excellent article.
Check this out: https://youtu.be/ekwtwXX2wYM?si=d0kyDT69TzclqIB9
Joshua, I agree with you on almost everything you write but this time not. Would a Jewish Bad Bunny protect us from Iran and its proxies. Saved us from the Bondi Beach massacre? Our incredible music, dance, art travels the world for all to see but is often boycotted or cancelled. And yet we have an Israeli Bobsled team in the Olympics despite it all!!!