On Sunday afternoon, roughly an hour before the NFL Super Bowl was set to begin, Decatur’s Thinking Man Tavern was already crowded.
But many of the patrons weren’t there to see the big game. They were more interested in celebrating, singing and dancing along with Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, whose historic, star-studded Super Bowl halftime show uplifted the lush tapestry of Puerto Rican culture.
The watch party and fundraiser were hosted by local queer and Latin dance party La Choloteca and Casa Alterna, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that has assisted immigrants and offered housing to asylum-seekers for 20 years.
“For those of us who are doing immigrant justice work, this has been a really hard year,” said Casa Alterna co-founder Anton Flores-Maisonet, referencing recent ICE raids. “I also believe that we have to cultivate community and celebration. What better way to do that than to have a dance party?”
Across five hours, the event (titled Debí Tirar Más Football in honor of Bad Bunny’s Grammy-winning album), was a home for love and Latin pride across all races — where basking in joy felt like a communal and necessary act.
Celebration as ‘rebellion’
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Throughout Sunday’s party, the Super Bowl became an afterthought. The game was on, but the volume was muted. For the first two hours, attendees in the packed bar — some of whom were wearing bunny ears — ate, drank, played Uno and danced. La Choloteca co-founder DJ La Superiorrr played hits by other Puerto Rican artists including Marc Anthony, La India and Frankie Ruiz.
Malia Graciani, wearing a red, white and blue shirt with “Puerto Rico” emblazoned across the chest, was among the first to arrive to the party — and the first to hit the dance floor.
The Chamblee resident, who describes herself as a “no sabo kid” (a term used for a U.S born Latino who isn’t fluent in Spanish), said a recent solo trip to Puerto Rico reinvigorated her love for her ancestry. Graciani said Bad Bunny’s artistry, especially on his Puerto Rican-rooted album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” also inspired that discovery.
“I really got to be reconnected with something I had been distant from for a very long time … so to me, it’s really symbolic to have someone from our island represent our culture in such a prominent way,” the 28-year-old Puerto Rican said. “In this environment that we’re in, it’s very rebellious to be so outspoken of being Latino.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
La Choloteca also sold a collection of Bad Bunny-inspired merch during the party, with half the proceeds going to Casa Alterna. Maite Nazario, an Atlanta resident who was born in Guatemala and raised in Puerto Rico, designed all the artwork for the merchandise, including T-shirts, tote bags and anti-ICE stickers.
Nazario said the designs were rooted in queer and Puerto Rican liberation, themes heard throughout “Debí Tirar Más Fotos”
“Other than the celebration of our country, it’s also bringing to light how it’s impacted by the state of colonial violence,” Nazario said of the album, which made history last week as the first Spanish-language project to win the Grammy for album of the year.
Flores-Maisonet, who’s also Puerto Rican, said Bad Bunny’s dedication to highlighting the political plight of his homeland adds an essential element to his towering superstardom.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
“In the island of Puerto Rico, it’s not Democrat versus Republican,” Flores-Maisonet said. “It’s statehood versus independence. At the end of the day, (Puerto Ricans) might still all go down to drink a beer and play dominoes together, but they’re very passionate about their politics, and their politics are usually rooted in identity, and that’s what his music is bringing to a global stage.”
Benito Bowl
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Around 8 p.m., the music inside Thinking Man gradually faded as attendees gathered close to the DJ. For the first and only time during the event, the TV was unmuted. It was Bad Bunny time.
Guests screamed, cried and danced to Bad Bunny’s 13-minute set, a detailed showcase of Puerto Rico’s nuanced history and culture. There were sugar cane fields, mass twerking, a group playing dominoes, a nail salon and Bad Bunny’s signature pink Casita (a mainstay during his residency in Puerto Rico last year) featuring stars such as Cardi B, Jessica Alba and Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. and a real wedding.
Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin appeared as the night’s main guests, performing “Die With a Smile” and “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii,” respectively.
Throughout the show, Bad Bunny, dressed in all white, ushered fans on a Puerto Rican fantasia via songs like Tití Me Preguntó, Nuevayol and, of course, “DTMF.” It was buoyant and boisterous — even for those who didn’t understand everything he said.
Danielle Deadwyler was one of them. The esteemed Atlanta actress came to visit her friends at La Choloteca and support Bad Bunny. But she wasn’t expecting to be entranced by the night’s palpable energy, joking that “Thinking Man don’t be like this when I come.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
“I’m always here for a show,” said Deadwyler, who’ll star alongside Steve Carell in the HBO comedy “Rooster” next month. “I’m here for how artists express themselves in these heightened moments, in this heightened era that we’re in. I’ve not been to a thing like this, with this kind of a fervor (and) turning this party into a concert for a lot of people. It’s about folks wanting to be together as time when they’re being separated, terrorized.”
DJ La Superiorrr, whose real name is Josephine Figueroa, cried during Bad Bunny’s performance. She was moved by many moments during his set, but one line struck her.
“I never, ever stopped believing in myself,” Bad Bunny said in Spanish, speaking directly to the camera. “You should also believe in yourself. You’re worth more than you think. Trust me.”
For the Peruvian artist and creator, the sentiment was personal.
“I feel like I don’t necessarily believe in myself enough … and to have someone who’s really important in the world and has made a difference, from (being an ally to) queer people to talking about ICE and femicide, say ‘I believe you can do this and be the change you want to see,’ means the world.”
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