WATCH: Puerto Rico’s Rep Turned a Halftime Interview Into an Anti-ICE Rant
The Super Bowl did not even reach halftime before MSNBC—now rebranded as MSNOW—turned it into a political event.
During what was supposed to be a cultural segment ahead of the halftime show, the network invited Pablo José Hernández Rivera, the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, to discuss Bad Bunny’s performance.
Instead of focusing on the music or the significance of the moment in entertainment terms, Hernández used the interview to launch into a broad political critique—attacking ICE, criticizing federal policy, and framing the halftime show as a form of resistance.
The Super Bowl, before millions of viewers, became a vehicle for political messaging rather than a shared national moment.
The most glaring problem with Hernández’s remarks was how detached they were from reality. He repeatedly criticized ICE, describing abuses and disruptions allegedly carried out in Puerto Rico. But ICE is not operating in Puerto Rico in the way he claimed.
The island is not an ICE enforcement hub, nor is it experiencing widespread immigration raids of the kind Hernández described.
Turning a Super Bowl interview into an anti-ICE monologue—about an agency that is not even meaningfully present on the island—was not just misleading; it was absurd.
This halftime moment was never about music. It was about using the Super Bowl as a political platform. MSNOW did not redirect the conversation or challenge the claims being made.
Instead, it allowed the country’s most-watched cultural event to be reframed as a statement about immigration, grievance politics, and cultural resentment.
The network then attempted to preempt criticism by portraying any objection as “hateful rhetoric” or an effort to deny Puerto Ricans their American identity. That framing was dishonest. Puerto Ricans are American citizens. That fact is not contested. The criticism was about appropriateness, not citizenship.
A national institution designed to unite Americans across politics and backgrounds was being repurposed for ideological signaling.
The irony becomes unavoidable when Hernández’s own political record is considered.
From the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, he has criticized Puerto Rico’s government for advocating statehood in Washington, calling those efforts unnecessary and arguing they distort the will of the Puerto Rican people.
In other words, the same official demanding Puerto Rican cultural centrality in America’s most symbolic national event has argued against Puerto Rico becoming a U.S. state.
That contradiction exposes a reality MSNOW refused to acknowledge: Puerto Rico can be a U.S. territory without its culture being synonymous with American national culture.
Citizenship status does not automatically redefine national institutions. Puerto Rican culture is distinct, legitimate, and worthy of respect—but distinct cultures do not override the purpose of events meant to reflect a shared American civic identity.
By allowing a halftime interview to devolve into an attack on ICE and a broader political statement, MSNOW confirmed what many viewers already suspected.
The Super Bowl was politicized not by critics reacting afterward, but by a media segment that chose activism over unity.
Read more on the halftime show here:
I Watched the Super Bowl Halftime Show So You Didn’t Have To
The post Puerto Rico’s Rep. Rivera Turned The Halftime Show Into an Anti-ICE Rant (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.