Bad Bunny erases Instagram posts – and sparks fan speculation after Super Bowl backlash

Donald Trump and Jake Paul were two of the critics who joined in on the backlash following Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance

Speculation is running rampant over Bad Bunny’s next move after the rapper wiped his entire Instagram page.

Hours after his historic Super Bowl halftime show performance, the Puerto Rican rapper removed everything from his Instagram account, including his profile picture, leaving only a link to his latest album in his bio.

The clean slate has left fans wondering if Bad Bunny — real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — might be teasing his next career move, or if the removal is in response to backlash following his game day performance.

While Bad Bunny’s star-studded celebration was met with praise from millions of viewers, backlash from MAGA supporters also flooded social media with criticism of the performance, which was mostly in Spanish and ended with a pan-American call for unity.

Donald Trump supporters protested Bad Bunny’s show by instead tuning into conservative group Turning Point USA’s “All-American” halftime show, which aired at the same time as the official halftime show. However, the alternative performance only garnered about four million viewers compared to Bad Bunny’s projected 128 million viewers.

Bad Bunny deleted all posts off his Instagram page after he gave a heartfelt performance at the Super Bowl Sunday (Getty Images)

Bad Bunny deleted all pictures from his Instagram after his Super Bowl halftime show, including his profile picture (Instagram/Bad Bunny)

After the rival shows, Trump criticized Bad Bunny’s performance in a lengthy post on Truth Social, saying: “The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence.”

Professional boxer Jake Paul also joined MAGA supporters in lashing out insults at Bad Bunny following the performance, but later backtracked after his brother called him out for the comments.

Social media trolls wondered if Bad Bunny deleted his posts after the show for “damage control” from criticisms like Trump’s and Paul’s, with one critic writing on X that the singer “knew he would get millions of angry replies!!!”

Another speculated: “I can’t say for sure but I bet the backlash was huge and loud (especially in certain online spaces). If it was purely about escaping the trashing, it wouldn't be the first time an artist has done exactly that after a divisive moment.”

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However, some fans noted that Bad Bunny has pulled this move before when he was preparing to release new music.

One wrote on X, “He always does that when he closes a chapter in his career, and it means something big is coming.”

“Usually he does this when he’s about to drop a new album soon hopefully that’s the case here,” another added. A third chimed in: “The Super Bowl was the finale. The blank grid means a new era is officially here.”

One fan wrote, “Deletes all posts and unfollows everyone after the Super Bowl? Yeah, that’s a statement.”

Bad Bunny’s latest release was last year’s album Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which recently became the first Spanish-language record to win Album of the Year at the Grammys.