Former NRL and NFL star Jarryd Hayne has launched a savage attack on Super Bowl LX halftime entertainer Bad Bunny.
Hayne joined the San Francisco 49ers in 2015 after leaving the NRL, earning a spot on the 53-man roster as a running back and return specialist despite limited American football experience.
He played eight games, recording 52 rushing yards and 151 punt return yards before being released mid-season, ending his brief NFL career.
He was glued to the screen for the Seattle Seahawks win over the New England Patriots on Monday morning AEST, but fired up at the choice of halftime entertainment.
Bad Bunny’s selection as the Super Bowl LX halftime show headliner was controversial largely because he’s a Spanish-language artist with outspoken political views.
That has included criticism of US immigration policies and support for Puerto Rican identity.
Jarryd Hayne, who had a brief stint with the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, took to social media to comment on the halftime entertainment of Super Bowl LX
Bad Bunny became the first entertainer to sing in another language during the halftime spot, which divided footy fans
Hayne attacked Bad Bunny for wearing dresses and choosing to mostly sing in Spanish
That drew sharp rebukes from former President Donald Trump and conservative commentators who claimed his performance wasn’t representative of ‘American values’ and objected to much of it being in Spanish.
Hayne fumed about Bad Bunny [real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio] because of his costume choices and decision to not sing in English.
‘I thought the blow up was because he wore dresses! But to think he only sang in Spanish is the biggest blunder in Super Bowl history, in my humble [opinion],’ he posted.
Hayne’s followers were divided, with many backing his anger.
However there were numerous comments telling for former footy star that he didn’t get it.
‘People vibed to the Macarena without knowing the lyrics, they vibed to Gangnam Style without knowing the lyrics,’ one replied.
Another posted: ‘Music transcends language. You don’t need to understand the words to appreciate the message’.
‘The Haka or other cultural displays before a football game aren’t always in English,’ pointed out another.
Millions tuned in to watch Bad Bunny and a host of guest performers, including Lady Gaga (pictured) also took part in the show
Hayne fired up when a follower suggested that Bad Bunny could pave the way for a Pacific Islands entertainer to one day perform at the Super Bowl
But it was one comment that struck a nerve with Hayne.
‘When a Pacific Islander performs at the Super Bowl halftime show in the future we will thank Bad Bunny for paving the way for people from United States territories,’ a follower posted.
American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are current US territories.
‘Has nothing to do with the Pacific Islands! It’s an American sport!!’ Hayne fumed.
‘What’s next we gotta listen to Spanish commentators to be inclusive and not offend anyone!’
Turning Point USA staged its own “All-American Halftime Show” as a counterprogramming event to the official Super Bowl LX halftime show headlined by Bad Bunny.
It aired on YouTube and other platforms at the same time and featuring artists like Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett.
President Trump took to Truth Social soon after the performance, branding it one of the worst halftime shows ever aired.
President Donald Trump, who has a long-running feud with the NFL, took to his Truth Social platform to slam Bad Bunny
Hayne returned to Australia after his NFL stint before he was engaged in a series of legal battles from 2018
‘The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!’ the president wrote.
‘It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence.
‘Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World.’
Trump’s fraught relationship with the NFL stretches back more than 40 years, beginning with his failed push to force a merger between the USFL and NFL in the 1980s and multiple unsuccessful attempts to buy an NFL franchise.
The feud reignited during his presidency in 2017 when he attacked players kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.
While Trump and conservatives attacked the halftime show, millions tuned in with floods of comments praising the performer for his messages of love and unity.
Hayne forged a stellar career in the Australian NRL rugby league competition before his stunning decision to try out for the NFL in 2015.
When he returned to Australia, his rugby league career failed to reach the same heights as before in stints at Parramatta and the Gold Coast Titans.
His footy career was then effectively stalled by long-running legal issues and incarceration.
Those legal battles include a long-running criminal case in Australia over an alleged 2018 sexual assault.
After a hung jury and two convictions in NSW district court, the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his rape convictions in June 2024 and prosecutors ultimately dropped further criminal proceedings, leaving him without a conviction.
In the United States, Hayne faced a civil case an alleged sexual assault from 2015 while in the NFL, which did not result in criminal charges, and he later settled a related civil lawsuit in California in 2019 for an undisclosed sum.
