Super Bowl LX is coming up this Sunday, and with Bad Bunny as this year’s halftime performer, some fans are wondering what of his content might get censored?

Last year, that question came up a lot thanks to Kendrick Lamar’s lyrics, particularly from his song “Not Like Us”, and how they would survive a family-friendly broadcast without running afoul of FCC rules. This year, the issue is trickier, and in some ways more uncomfortable for the NFL. Because Bad Bunny’s most explicit lyrics aren’t in English.

As the global superstar prepares to headline the Super Bowl LX halftime show, the league and its broadcast partners are navigating a gray area they don’t often have to confront directly: how FCC standards apply when sexual language, profanity, or innuendo is delivered in Spanish, and whether those standards are enforced differently depending on who the audience is presumed to be.

What the FCC actually regulates and what it doesn’t

First, a crucial baseline. The FCC does not pre-approve halftime shows. It doesn’t review lyrics in advance, and it doesn’t issue content guidelines tailored to individual performers. Enforcement only happens after a broadcast, and only if members of the public file complaints.

When the FCC does get involved, it evaluates content under three categories: obscenity, indecency, and profanity. Obscenity is rarely relevant to popular music, because the legal bar is extremely high. That leaves indecency and profanity, which are restricted on broadcast television before late-night hours.

Here’s where things get murky. FCC enforcement has always been context-driven, not checklist-based. Regulators consider factors like repetition, intent, clarity of meaning, and, most importantly, whether an average viewer would immediately understand the offensive content. That last point matters a lot when the lyrics aren’t in English.

Why Bad Bunny presents a different challenge than Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar’s situation last year was straightforward from a legal standpoint. His lyrics are in English, his language is explicit, and the meaning is unmistakable to virtually the entire viewing audience. The network knew exactly which words would raise red flags, and Kendrick adjusted his performance accordingly, as many artists before him have done.

Bad Bunny’s music, on the other hand...is different. Yes, many of his songs contain sexual language, profanity, and explicit themes. But most of it is delivered in Spanish, and much of it is built on slang and regional expressions and framed as innuendo rather than anatomical description.

That puts the NFL in a safer legal position not because the lyrics are cleaner, but because their meaning isn’t universally understood by the broadcast audience.

Historically, the FCC has been far less aggressive about enforcing indecency rules when the offensive meaning requires translation, cultural knowledge, or interpretation. That doesn’t mean Spanish-language profanity is immune, but it does mean enforcement is far less predictable, and complaints are far less likely to stick.

There will be censorship...just not the kind people expect

None of this means Bad Bunny will have free rein. As with every modern Super Bowl halftime show, there will be a 5-second broadcast delay, multiple layers of internal censorship from both the NFL and the network, and mandatory rehearsals where risky moments are flagged and adjusted.

But based on precedent, the focus is unlikely to be on translating and bleeping Spanish lyrics word-by-word. Instead, the league’s attention will almost certainly center on:

• Choreography that visually reinforces sexual meaning
• Crowd participation or call-and-response moments
• English-language ad-libs or guest appearances
• Any moments that make innuendo unmistakable, regardless of language

In other words, how the performance looks may matter more than what the lyrics technically say.

But what makes this situation uncomfortable isn’t just censorship, but what censorship implies. If the NFL clamps down aggressively on Bad Bunny’s Spanish lyrics, it risks appearing culturally dismissive or inconsistent, especially after years of allowing innuendo-heavy English-language pop performances to slide. If it doesn’t, the league is implicitly acknowledging that “family-friendly” standards are shaped by assumptions about who understands what. That tension has always existed, but Bad Bunny’s show makes it harder to ignore.

There’s little reason to expect the kind of heavy lyrical scrubbing Kendrick Lamar had to navigate last year. There’s also little chance the NFL allows anything that becomes visually or linguistically explicit beyond interpretation. The most likely outcome is a performance that stays true to Bad Bunny’s sound and identity, while quietly steering around moments that could turn ambiguity into clarity, the one thing the FCC tends to care about most.

And if complaints roll in afterward, well, that’s a bridge the league has crossed many times before.

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