Featured Image Credit: Leonardo Fernandez/Getty
Topics: Jake Paul, Bad Bunny, Social Media
Ellie Kemp
Jake Paul has clarified what he meant by calling Bad Bunny a 'fake American' after facing backlash online.
During last night's Super Bowl halftime show, the YouTuber took to social media to slam the Puerto Rican rapper and urged viewers to 'switch off' the rapper's performance.
Bad Bunny performed his entire 14-minute show in Spanish, after winning three Grammys the previous weekend and calling for 'ICE out.'
It came after the deaths of ICU nurse Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis under intensified ICE raids under President Donald Trump.
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Taking to X, as Bad Bunny took to the Levi's Stadium in California on Sunday night (February 9), Jake announced he was 'purposefully' turning off the halftime show, adding: "Let’s rally together and show big corporations they can’t just do whatever they want without consequences (which equals viewership for them).
"You are their benefit. Realize you have power. Turn off this halftime. A fake American citizen performing who publicly hates America. I cannot support that.”
Naturally, the comment drew a lot of backlash, including from his brother, Logan, prompting Jake to return to X and explain what he meant by his 'fake citizen' remark.
"To clarify: I wasn’t calling anyone a “fake citizen” because they’re from Puerto Rico. I live in Puerto Rico, and I love Puerto Rico. I have used my platform to support Puerto Rico time and time again and will always do so," he began.
"But if you’re publicly criticizing ICE who are doing their job and openly hating on America, I’m going to speak on it. Period. That’s the same reason I called out Hunter Hess.
"If you benefit from a country and the platform it gives you, but publicly disrespect it at the same time, that’s what I mean by being a fake citizen."
He concluded: "And I agree love is more powerful than hate. Love America."
Jake and his brother Logan, who were born in Cleveland, Ohio, have lived in Dorado, Puerto Rico, since 2021.
They have previously discussed the lower tax rates in the country compared to California.
As Sporting News reports, Logan previously said on the Impaulsive podcast: “In Puerto Rico, you are motivated to do more and make more money because of the implications that come with that.
"It is 96 percent of the reasons (taxes), which is the same amount of money that you keep each year if you live in Puerto Rico."