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Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) marked his return to Studio 8H, not only as a two-time host but also as the headliner for the season 51 premiere of Saturday Night Live on October 4, 2025. His performance, which featured musical guest Doja Cat, transcended a typical comedy show, becoming a moment that celebrated Latino culture and confidently pushed back against political criticism.
Monologue and Political Commentary
The show’s cold open immediately addressed political themes, skewering current events and setting the tone for a politically charged season. Bad Bunny’s monologue, however, was the highlight for many, using his platform to confront the controversy surrounding his announcement as the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show performer.
- Bilingual Confidence: Bad Bunny delivered a significant portion of his monologue in Spanish, a confident move that acknowledged his primary language and his global audience. A key moment of the show came when he addressed the critics of his Spanish-language Super Bowl performance, cheekily quipping, “If you don’t understand it, you have four months to learn.”
- Cultural Pride: He used the monologue to thank “all the Latinos and Latinas across the world… who have worked to open doors,” positioning his success and major booking as a collective achievement and a testament to the community’s contribution to the U.S.
- Star-Studded Appearance: The monologue featured a cameo from actor Jon Hamm, who was introduced as a passionate Bad Bunny fan attempting to show off his dancing skills.
Sketch Highlights and Performances
The sketches throughout the night leveraged Bad Bunny’s unique persona and provided plenty of bilingual humor, often centering on cultural misunderstandings and generational gaps.
- Language & Identity: One memorable sketch, “Inventing Spanish,” featured Bad Bunny playing a historical figure dictating the gender rules for new Spanish words. Another popular recurring collaboration with cast member Marcello Hernández, “Chat GP Tio,” satirized a Latino-themed AI uncle, providing loud, unfiltered, and sexually explicit advice.
- Comedy Hits and Misses: Other sketches included Bad Bunny as an overly enthusiastic, hardcore fan of the fictional Netflix movie, KPop Demon Hunters, and a “Jeopardy!” segment where his character continually failed to grasp the “question-answer” rule format. A “Parent-Teacher Conference” sketch had him playing a “hot dad” whose charm distracted the teacher from his son’s troubling drawings. Critics noted that while Bad Bunny was enthusiastic and game for the live format, the episode was somewhat uneven, a common critique for season premieres.
- Musical Guest: Musical guest Doja Cat performed her songs “AAAHH MEN!” and “Gorgeous,” bringing a high-energy, performance-art sensibility to the stage for her debut as a musical guest.
A Nod to Latinx Representation
Bad Bunny’s return to SNL was viewed by many as a significant moment for Latinx representation in mainstream American television. By centering the episode around his cultural identity and using the Spanish language so prominently, the show underscored the growing and undeniable influence of Latin artists in pop culture. The episode confidently turned conservative criticism into cultural pride, with Bad Bunny reinforcing his image as a star who follows his own rules. His appearance, combined with his upcoming Super Bowl performance, cemented his position as a crucial, influential figure at the intersection of music, comedy, and cultural politics.
