Anti-ICE protestors are planning to disrupt the Super Bowl with a dramatic protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Sunday’s game.
An organization calling themselves Contra-ICE are handing 25,000 white towels branded ‘ICE OUT’ around the stadium for fans to wave during the game in Santa Clara.
The protestors gathered by the Hilton Santa Clara Hotel on Sunday morning, just a five-minute walk away from Levi’s Stadium, which hosts Seattle Seahawks against New England Patriots.
Lead organizer Shasti Conrad said in a statement that the group had been partly inspired by Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny, who said ‘ICE out’ in his Grammys speech last weekend after winning album of the year.
‘The Super Bowl is one of the most powerful cultural moments in the country, where music, competition, and identity all collide,’ Shastri said.
‘We’ve seen at the Golden Globes and the Grammys how artists like Bad Bunny are using these stages to say something bigger about who we are and what we stand for.
Protestors are handing ‘ICE out’ towels to the fans going to the Super Bowl on Sunday
It comes amid tension around Bad Bunny’s impending Super Bowl halftime performance
‘This action builds on that momentum. Culture often leads politics, and moments like this show how people are using joy, creativity, and visibility to push back against ICE and demand a country that truly lives up to its promise to welcome immigrants.’
it was a relaxed atmosphere, however, around three hours before the start of the game, with the fans lucky enough to have the hottest ticket in town enjoying the party atmosphere leading up to kickoff.
The Puerto Rican rapper, real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has remained coy over whether he will repeat his anti-ICE stance during the halftime show.
He didn’t address the MAGA backlash against his impending performance during a Super Bowl press conference in San Francisco earlier this week but insisted ‘the world will be happy’ after his 13-minute show has reached its conclusion.
‘The world is going to be happy this Sunday, (as well as) the whole country,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of people that love me around the world, not just the Latino people.
‘To be on the biggest stage in the world is something that I never thought (possible). You always have to be proud of who you are and feel comfortable being yourself, being proud about your history and where you are from and don’t let that limit yourself.
‘A lot of people stop me at the street or the airport, Americans in the United States, Mexico, French and say “I know you’re going to do a great performance at the Super Bowl.”‘
Another anti-MAGA band, Green Day, are performing in the pre-game show. Earlier this week, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong called out the Trump administration during a show and he has previously changed lyrics to their hit ‘American Idiot’ to: ‘I’m not part of a MAGA agenda.’
Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara hosts the Seattle Seahawks against New England Patriots
Trump himself has slammed the selection of Bad Bunny and Green Day, saying that they will ‘sow hatred’.
He is not attending the showdown in California, despite last year becoming the first sitting President in US history to go to the Super Bowl when it was held in New Orleans.
Right-wing political organization Turning Point USA has organized an alternative ‘All-American Halftime Show’ featuring artists including Kid Rock.
As for the football, the Seahawks are favorite to beat the Patriots, who have made their first Super Bowl since the all-conquering era of quarterback Tom Brady.
