50 Cent slams Grammys for inadequate Spanish subtitles in Bad Bunny performance
A memorable Grammy opening by Bad Bunny had the audience on their feet but not everyone was happy, because of missing subtitles.
Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny won the Best Musica Urbana Album at the 65th Grammy Awards. Aside from his famous song “Un Verano Sin Ti,” earning an album of the year nomination, he is also Spotify’s most streamed artist of 2022.
During his performance at Grammys 2023, some viewers at home enjoyed listening to his hits “Después de la Playa” and “El Apagón.”
Bad Bunny (@sanbenito) opens the #Grammys with a party pic.twitter.com/CFS1cWi3CW
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 6, 2023
Others raised discontentment when the live broadcast showed the captions on the screen. It only showed “(SPEAKING NON-ENGLISH)” and “(SINGING IN NON-ENGLISH),” which was supposedly an English translation.
Rapper 50 Cent was one to notice and can’t help but comment on the issue. He called out the Academy and CBS for not captioning appropriately.
On Feb.9, the rapper took it to Instagram to express his disappointment. “The Grammys need to be check about this, F—— @badbunnypr bigger than everybody right now, and you can’t pay for closed caption.”
View this post on Instagram
Along with the post is the screenshot of the captions to which he also wrote, “Wtf is this speaking Non-English. 🤨FIX IT !”
A lot of Instagram users commented on his post. One user wrote, “Facts. Spanish is the 2nd most spoken language here, GET IT TOGETHERRRR.”
Another person commented, “THANK YOU! Someone else than a Latino standing up for our language and culture. Thank you for repping for us. And holding us down, Fif. You’ve always been a real one. Boricuas love you!”
Bad Bunny Grammy Performance
Many viewers expressed disappointment during the awards night on Sunday and the following days after. They are frustrated with the improper captioning on the screen during Bad Bunny’s performance.
Seeing [SPEAKING IN NON-ENGLISH] in closed captions in 2023 is a great reminder that a lot of us can’t separate our accessibility from our culture, which is why those conversations need to be inclusive as all hell.
— Shannon Miller (@ShannonL_Miller) February 6, 2023
In addition, one user also pointed out how the caption “(speaking non-English)” was also used during Bad Bunny’s acceptance speech. On a positive note, Spotify and other users chose to be creative.
The music streaming giant created a new playlist, “[speaking non-english].” The playlist used the viral photo of Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny during the ceremony as its cover. It also only includes songs from both artists.
Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny at the #Grammys. https://t.co/1H5hn8BrCj pic.twitter.com/Ds4ufqrEFa
— Variety (@Variety) February 6, 2023
In addition, others joked about creating T-shirts using the caption. A Variety report said that CBS edited the closed caption and replaced it with the correct Spanish caption.
After the backlash, the edited version of Bad Bunny’s performance appeared on the replays of the awards show on Paramount + and the West Coast broadcast. This is according to Yahoo.
Moreover, Bad Bunny didn’t just stay silent. He also included the viral caption in his Instagram post. He wrote in Spanish, “The most beautiful word that exists is: Thank you.”
Bad Bunny’s caption also said, “I am grateful to God, to life, to the love I receive. Grateful to be able to live moments that I never imagined. Grateful for the people who truly love me, those who genuinely support me, those who understand me, and those who don’t too.”
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