By Beyoncé Vásquez
Saturday Night Live (SNL) season 51 premiered this weekend with host Bad Bunny and musical guest Doja Cat. Bad Bunny returned for his second time hosting SNL. He addresses the backlash and conservative criticism surrounding the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Blacklash during his opening monologue.
His Season 51 return comes a week after he announced the Super Bowl halftime show. He first hosted Saturday Night Live in 2023 and appeared on the show as the musical guest for the Season 50 finale. He makes SNL history as the first person to be billed on two episodes in a row. “It’s good to be back. This is my second time hosting and fourth time being here,” Bad Bunny said during his opening monologue.
The singer claps back at the negative backlash and conservative criticism he received after his Super Bowl Halftime announcement. “You might not know this, but I’m doing the Super Bowl Halftime show. And I’m very happy, and I think everybody’s happy about it, even Fox News,” Bad Bunny said in his monologue. SNL then cuts to edited clips of Fox News hosts saying, “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician and he should be the next president.”
Bad Bunny Saturday Night Live Monologue
Bad Bunny’s monologue also uplifted and honored the Latino communities as they face discrimination and racism in the U.S. today. “I’m really excited to be doing the Super Bowl. I know that people all around the world who love my music are also happy,” Bad Bunny said before switching into Spanish. “Especially all of the Latinos and Latinas in the world here in the United States who have worked to open doors. It’s more than a win for myself; it’s a win for all of us. Our footprints and our contribution in this country, no one will ever be able to take that away or erase it.”
The monologue finished with a note in English,” And, if you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!”
Bad Bunny and SNL also paid tribute to the Televisa sitcom “El Chavo Del Ocho” with an English version. The comedy sitcom from the 1970s is the biggest show in Latin American history. It follows a boy, El Chavo, who lives in a barrel inside an apartment complex. He gets himself into trouble with his neighbors due to misunderstandings and taking things too literally. The SNL skit encapsulated all of the characters accurately and brought a wave of nostalgia to Latinos and Latinas.
The parody skit featured Bad Bunny as Quico and Marcello Hernández as El Chavo. Chloe Fineman played Quico’s mother, Doña Florinda, Sara Sherman as La Chilindrina, while Andre Dismukes played her father, Don Ramón.
Bad Bunny and SNL brought Spanish, Latinidad, and nostalgia in the season 51 premiere. The singer’s hosting gig comes after his 31-show residency in Puerto Rico.