There’s rather a lot to unpack in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime show — from the opening shot in Puerto Rico’s sugarcane fields to cameos from cultural icons like María Antonia “Toñita” Cay. However one element has sparked particularly intense hypothesis on-line: the customized cream jersey he wore, embroidered with “Ocasio 64” on the again.
A part of the which means is easy. Dangerous Bunny’s given title is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, making “Ocasio” his authorities surname.
The quantity “64,” nevertheless, is extra ambiguous. Some followers have speculated that it could reference his mom’s beginning yr, 1964 — a idea that continues to be unconfirmed.
A extra politically charged interpretation emerged after the efficiency. In a livestream following the present, Joe Coscarelli of The New York Occasions identified that 64 was the preliminary dying toll Puerto Rico’s authorities reported after Hurricane Maria in 2017, a determine later revealed to be dramatically underestimated. Impartial research ultimately positioned the true dying toll within the 1000’s.
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The disputed quantity turned a flashpoint for public outrage. Coscarelli defined how protesters positioned footwear outdoors authorities buildings to characterize family members misplaced within the storm, calling consideration to what many noticed as official efforts to downplay the catastrophe’s human price. Dangerous Bunny later revealed that he, too, had contributed his personal footwear to these memorials.
Considered by that lens, “64” reads much less like a private element and extra like a pointed act of remembrance and quiet protest.
That interpretation is bolstered by the present’s staging. At one level, Dangerous Bunny climbs atop a utility pole, whereas dancers carry out suspended from sparking energy poles, imagery that remembers the widespread blackouts and infrastructure collapse that adopted Hurricane Maria. Hundreds of thousands had been left with out electrical energy for months, making energy outages one of many storm’s most enduring symbols.
Taken collectively, the jersey, the staging, and the setting counsel that Dangerous Bunny wasn’t simply delivering a spectacle. He was narrating Puerto Rican historical past.
We’ll replace this story if Dangerous Bunny confirms the which means of the jersey.
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