Entertainment
Will Bad Bunny call out ICE at the Super Bowl?
Fresh off his historic Album of the Year win at the 2026 Grammys for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, Bad Bunny is set to headline the Super Bowl LX halftime show on Feb. 8 — a performance poised to become yet another culture-shifting moment on the world’s biggest stage.
At the Grammys, the Puerto Rican superstar didn’t shy away from politics, directly calling out U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a pointed “ICE out” during his acceptance speech for Música Urbana Album. Now, as he prepares for one of the most-watched performances in the world, the question remains: Will Bad Bunny bring that same unapologetic message to the Super Bowl?
Bad Bunny’s history of speaking out against ICE
If Benito does take on ICE at the Super Bowl, it wouldn’t be the first time. In a September 2025 interview with i-D magazine, he said concerns over potential ICE raids and the safety of his Latino and Puerto Rican fans were a key reason he excluded the United States from his 2025–2026 DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS World Tour.
“People from the U.S. could come here to see the show. Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world,” he said. “But there was the issue that … ICE could be outside (my concert venue). And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
Instead, the artist staged a historic 31-date residency in Puerto Rico — one intentionally designed to prioritize local fans, keep ticket prices accessible, and inject more than $400 million into the island’s economy. The decision underscored not only his connection to the island but also his ongoing concern for the communities most affected by immigration enforcement.
That awareness surfaced again during the Grammys telecast, when host Trevor Noah joked, “If things keep getting worse in America, can I come live with you in Puerto Rico?” Bad Bunny gently corrected him: “Puerto Rico is part of America.” The moment landed lightly, but its implications were a reminder of Puerto Rico’s complicated political status and the way Latinx communities are often treated as both central to and peripheral within American life.
His criticism of ICE has been consistent. Last June, Bad Bunny shared a video on his Instagram Story condemning federal agents operating in Puerto Rico, urging them to stop harassing people who were simply trying to work. With ICE operations intensifying under the Trump administration, his past comments suggest this activism is not a fleeting statement but a throughline in his career.
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And as a Puerto Rican artist whose music openly celebrates the island, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Super Bowl stage became yet another place where he chooses to make that message heard.
Has Bad Bunny ever criticized President Trump?
While Bad Bunny has rarely named Donald Trump outright, his criticism of the former president — and the policies of his administration — has been clear. In 2024, the artist endorsed Kamala Harris for U.S. president, citing frustration with the Trump administration’s handling of Hurricane Maria and its devastating impact on Puerto Rico. He made the public endorsement in the wake of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s racist remarks about Puerto Rico at a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden, where the island was referred to as a “floating island of garbage.”
His commentary has also surfaced through his music. On this past Fourth of July, Bad Bunny released the music video for “NUEVAYoL,” a salsa tribute to the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York.
The visual features the singer perched atop the Statue of Liberty, who wears a Puerto Rican flag across her forehead like a bandanna. In the final moments, a Trump-like voice plays over a radio broadcast, issuing an imagined apology to immigrants. “This country is nothing without the immigrants,” the voice says, naming Mexicans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Venezuelans, and Cubans in an unmistakable rebuke of Trump-era immigration rhetoric.
Tensions escalated further after the NFL announced Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl LX halftime performer. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem publicly criticized the decision, saying ICE agents would be “all over” the Super Bowl and suggesting the event should be reserved for “law-abiding Americans who love this country.”
The following night, Bad Bunny addressed the backlash during his Saturday Night Live monologue. Speaking first in English, then in Spanish, he framed the moment as a collective victory for Latino communities in the United States, emphasizing their labor and cultural impact. “Our footprints and our contribution in this country,” he said, “no one will ever be able to take that away or erase it.” He closed with a pointed aside in English: “And if you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.”
Trump himself responded dismissively when asked about Bad Bunny in October, telling NewsMax he had “never heard of him” and questioning why the NFL selected him as the halftime performer. Just last month, he told the New York Post that he would not attend Super Bowl LX, citing Bad Bunny and opening act Green Day as reasons. “I’m anti-them,” Trump said, “I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.”
We’ll have to wait until Super Bowl Sunday to see if Benito responds.
So, will Bad Bunny mention ICE or Trump at the Super Bowl?
Whether or not Bad Bunny directly addresses politics at Super Bowl LX, the act of bringing Puerto Rican culture and its history to the world’s biggest stage is itself a statement. For Bad Bunny, music and identity have always been inseparable, and this halftime show will surely be no exception.
Entertainment
NYT Strands hints, answers for April 5, 2026
Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you’re an animal lover.
Strands, the New York Times‘ elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with the “spangram,” a special, word or phrase that sums up that day’s theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.
By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.
If you’re feeling stuck or just don’t have 10 or more minutes to figure out today’s puzzle, we’ve got all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Pouch perfect
The words are related to animals.
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Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained
These words describe pouch-bearing animals.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?
Today’s NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.
NYT Strands spangram answer today
Today’s spangram is Marsupials.
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NYT Strands word list for April 5
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Wombat
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Koala
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Bilby
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Marsupials
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Opossum
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Kangaroo
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Wallaby
Looking for other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page has more hints, and if you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now!
Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Strands.
Entertainment
Hurdle hints and answers for April 5, 2026
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it’ll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
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If you find yourself stuck at any step of today’s Hurdle, don’t worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
A spigot.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
SPOUT
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Hurdle Word 2 hint
A leg exercise.
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
LUNGE
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Hurdle Word 3 hint
Fire.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
FLAME
Hurdle Word 4 hint
To smash into.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
CRASH
Final Hurdle hint
Gleam
Hurdle Word 5 answer
SHINE
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
Terrifying Viral Web Series Makes Its Big Screen Debut
By Jennifer Asencio
| Updated
The wait is over. After years of anticipation, Backrooms is finally here. The first trailer was dropped on March 31, 2026, and the surreal dimension audiences were introduced to in the amateur web series is finally coming into its own. The A24 production was directed by none other than Kane Pixels himself, Kane Parsons.
When Parsons filmed his masterpiece web series, he was a 17-year-old high school student with an experimental eye behind the camera. The Backrooms (Found Footage) follows a young filmmaker as he wanders into another dimension consisting of a labyrinth of rooms in a yellow-walled institutional setting. His work was noticed by Atomic Monster, the studio of horror great James Wan, director of The Conjuring movies and the Insidious franchise. Parsons still isn’t old enough to pop champagne at his movie’s premiere, but his maturity as a director is sure to excite fans of the web series.
Lost In Labyrinth
In the trailer for Backrooms, Chiwetel Ejiofor, known for playing Baron Mondo in the Doctor Strange movies, stars as Clark, an employee in a furniture showroom who one night finds a strange opening in the store’s basement. He passes through the opening and finds the very same dimension that is Parsons’s trademark, yellow walls and all. As he wanders around a little, strange events happen.
This makes him determined to study this strange alternate universe. He recruits some friends and gathers some camera gear, and the group begins its exploration. However, there is a young lady he speaks to that seems to be either a friend or a therapist, and when she stumbles upon the rooms without Clark’s knowledge, she may never come back.
At least, this is what I have gathered from watching the trailer. The script, written by Parsons and Will Soodik, has been kept under wraps since the movie was first announced. It appears to take place in the past (prior rumors said the 1990s), and IMDb doesn’t have a lot of information beyond the name of Ejiofor’s character and some production credits.
What we have been shown is exciting because it draws upon almost everything fans loved about the web series. It will feature found footage in the form of the explorations of Clark and his friends. The vast office complex that makes up the setting is adorned with surreal imagery like strangely stacked furniture and objects sunken into walls. Some of the characters show up in radiation gear. Somehow, between the yellow walls and the varying sizes of the rooms, passages, and hallways, the titular setting is both massive and claustrophobic at once, making it very unsettling.
A Deeply Unsettling Exploration
The whole movie seems to echo the trajectory of Parsons’s career so far: an eagerness to explore combined with an optimism for what Clark might find, while presenting a frightening and solitary menace for anyone who dares enter alone. Parsons began with that eagerness and is now getting to explore the world of cinema that he entered when he posted the original anthology on YouTube, with all the optimism of a kid who got his first directing contract before he even graduated high school.
If Backrooms maintains the tone set by Kane Pixels, it could draw new fans. If it manages to use the resources offered to Parsons by support from a professional studio, it could turn a teenager’s vision into the hottest new horror franchise. The trailer hints that it at least accomplishes the tone. Now to see if it can exceed expectations.
Get lost in Backrooms, in theaters on May 29, 2026.
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