February 23, 2026 • 13 mins
What's it like to be so represented in mass media that not being centered for 15 minutes has people losing their minds?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Laura (00:00):
I am so tired of white people.
Male VO (00:04):
This is Bad Attitudes.
Laura (00:21):
Hello, friends and strangers.
Welcome to another episode ofBad Attitudes, an uninspiring
podcast about disability.
I'm your host, Laura.
This week's supporter shout outgoes to Erica Sue.
Thank you for your support,Erica.
If you would like to hear yourname on a future episode,
consider supporting the podcaston Ko-Fi.
(00:43):
Visit ko-fi.com slash badattitudes pod for more
information.
You can also support the pod byvisiting our merch store at
badattitudeshop.etsc.com whereyou'll find podcast merch and
satisfyingly sarcastic designs,especially for the disabled and
(01:05):
chronically ill communities.
For questions, comments, orideas, visit the website at
badattitudespod.com, emailbadattitudespod at gmail.com, or
reach out through social media.
Follow at BadAttitudes Pod onInstagram, Facebook, Threads,
(01:26):
and Blue Sky.
As always, I want to remind youthat disability is not a
monolith.
My experience as a disabledperson is going to be different
from the experiences of otherdisabled people.
I am one voice for the disabledcommunity, but I am not the
only voice.
When this episode drops, it'llbe about two weeks post-Super
(01:48):
Bowl, but at the time ofwriting, the halftime show is
still fresh in everyone's mind,and as a white person, I just
have to say, I am so fuckingsick of white people.
On February 8th, Bad Bunny madehistory as the first artist to
perform a halftime show almostentirely in Spanish, and certain
(02:09):
demographics have been losingtheir shit ever since he was
announced as headliner.
Specifically the white MAGAdemographic.
A lot of poignant choices weremade for Super Bowl 60.
A halftime headliner who singsin Spanish.
An opening performance fromGreen Day, one of the most
popular and outspoken bandsperforming today, an out lesbian
(02:33):
performing America theBeautiful.
Messages were delivered.
But MAGA was so butthurt overthe choice of Bad Bunny, they
had to throw their ownretaliatory halftime show put on
by Turning Point USA, theorganization spearheaded by the
late Charlie Kirk.
Their headliner, Kid Rock,whose most recent pop culture
(02:56):
relevance was that time he wasshown shooting up a case of Bud
Light because it featured atrans woman, and then getting
caught on camera drinking BudLight.
Just as a side note, does anyoneelse giggle a little when you
see the mention of TP USAbecause, well, TP, it makes
sense since everything about itis shit.
(03:16):
There's no law that says youhave to be excited by every
halftime performer.
But the reaction and backlashto Bad Bunny has been outsized,
to say the least.
And if you're wondering whatany of this has to do with
disability, don't worry, I'mgetting there.
Did I understand what Bad Bunnywas singing?
No, I don't speak Spanish.
(03:38):
To be fair, I also don'tunderstand what most of the
halftime acts have been sayingbecause A, I'm not intimately
familiar with their music, andB, the sound is usually mediocre
at best.
I was actually impressed by BadBunny's sound quality if I'm
being honest.
Just because I couldn'tunderstand the words didn't mean
I didn't understand themessage.
(03:58):
And the most important messagewas in English.
The only thing more powerfulthan hate is love.
But the MAGA Base doesn't wantto focus on that.
They want to throw around falseinformation about Bad Bunny's
citizenship and claim it is themost vulgar halftime show ever.
You want me to believe this isworse than Nipplegate 2004?
(04:21):
Why?
Because he grabbed his crotch?
Oh hey, have you heard ofMichael Jackson?
He was the halftime performerin 1993 and practically invented
the crotch grab.
I bet if I rewatched Halftime2022 with Eminem, Dr.
Dre, Snoop Dogg, KendrickLamar, and Mary J.
Blige, I would see nothing butcrotch grabs.
(04:42):
Was it the dancing?
Because I don't remember theoutrage being quite so vitriolic
in 2020 when Shakira andJennifer Lopez were literally
dancing on poles.
Sure, people were upset, butnothing on this level.
Were some lyrics problematic?
Maybe.
But were they as problematic asI like them underage?
(05:05):
See, some say that's statutory,but I say that's mandatory.
This from Kid Rock, headlinerof the All-American TP USA
alternative.
And at the time of the 2004Super Bowl, didn't Justin
Timberlake's big song containthe lyric, bet I'll have you
naked by the end of this song?
The hypocrisy is deafening.
(05:27):
Honestly, most complainers arejust grasping at straws, trying
to find something to be offendedby, so they don't have to admit
what actually upsets them.
A non-white performerperforming an entire show in a
language that isn't English.
On a friend's Facebook post,someone commented that they wish
Bad Bunny had performed a mixof English and Spanish so more
(05:51):
of the country could understandthe message.
Quote, I watched TP USA on myiPad.
That message was clear.
It's because the message wasracism, Carol.
Of course it was clear.
A handful of mediocre white menwho are past their performing
prime threw a televised tantrumbecause they don't know multiple
(06:11):
languages.
Interestingly, Kid Rock hasperformed on the halftime show
before, 22 years ago, when hewas still culturally relevant.
Prior to the actual performance,nobody had anything to say
about Bad Bunny's lyrics or anypotential dancing.
He's the most streamed artiston Spotify.
People know his lyrics.
(06:33):
If you were concerned aboutvulgarity, the time to raise
that objection was before, notafter.
But you weren't concerned abouthis lyrics, only that he was
singing them in Spanish.
That was and remains the onlyreason TPUSA put on their show,
because the primetime halftimeshow wasn't going to be in
(06:54):
English.
Another random internet trollsaid it more succinctly.
Not a single white person insight.
Diversity means erasing you.
I have exactly zero sympathyfor white people who spent less
than 15 minutes not being thecenter of attention.
They aren't centered for asingle musical performance and
(07:17):
they lose their fucking minds.
Tell me you've never had tosearch for representation
without telling me you've neverhad to search for
representation.
Tell me your identity has neverbeen used for tokenism without
telling me your identity hasnever been used for tokenism.
Tell me you've always seenyourself in movies, TV shows,
(07:38):
and books without telling me.
Tell me you've always been themain character without telling
me you've always been the maincharacter.
Disabled people struggle withfinding quality representation
every day across all media.
We get one disabled characterand well, that's it.
(08:00):
We get one disabled character.
Whatever representation we doget is almost always used to
center someone else.
Another character, practicallyguaranteed not to be disabled.
We are props in someone else'sstory.
Consider two semi-recent moviesfeaturing a disabled main
character.
First, Me Before You, starringEmilia Clark and Sam Claflin.
(08:25):
Spoiler alert, Claflin plays adisabled man who eventually ends
his life with assisted suicide.
Clark's character, Lou, ishired to act as his caregiver.
Based on a novel, the entirearc, including the other
character's death, is used tolaunch Lou out of her dead-end
life and set her up for love andsuccess, chronicled in
(08:48):
subsequent books.
The second, The Upside,starring Bryan Cranston as a
paralyzed billionaire and KevinHart as a parolee, focuses on
their unlikely friendship, butis primarily a redemption
vehicle for Hart's character.
The Upside is the Englishlanguage version of multiple
foreign films, all inspired by atrue story.
(09:10):
Both films use disabledcharacters to advance the
stories of non-disabledprotagonists.
I'm not saying thisautomatically makes the movies
bad, but this is just theperpetuation of a common trope
when featuring disabledcharacters.
Both films also perpetuate theuse of non-disabled actors to
(09:31):
tell disabled stories.
I cannot tell you how manytimes I watch a movie or TV show
with a disabled character onlyto discover the actor isn't
actually disabled.
It is incredibly frustratingand disappointing and leads to
an outsized reaction when we doget authentically disabled
actors in disabled roles.
(09:53):
People wouldn't have talkedabout Marissa Bode so much if we
were used to seeing disabledactors playing disabled
characters.
Not that we shouldn't have beentalking about Marissa Bode.
I think she did a great job asNessa Rose.
At least in the first movie, Istill haven't seen the second
one.
My point is that if hiringdisabled actors were a common
(10:14):
practice, we could talk aboutother stuff.
I grew up disabled, and from mychildhood, I remember exactly
one instance of disabilityrepresentation in the media
available to me.
Her name was Kathy, and sheappeared in four episodes of
Different Strokes.
Actress Melanie Watson also hadosteogenesis imperfecta, but
(10:36):
beyond that, I don't feel like Irelated all that strongly to
the character.
In the first place, she couldgo to her friends' houses,
something I couldn't do sincenone of my friends' houses were
accessible.
And her friends were also superrich.
Can definitely not relate.
I had characters I could relateto, but no one I could identify
(10:59):
with completely.
Still, I'm not going to pretendlike I haven't also benefited
from the prevalence of whitepresenting representation.
For all I'm a disabled person,I'm a disabled white person.
And white privilege exists evenif I belong to a marginalized
community.
White people need to stopdemanding that everything center
(11:22):
whiteness.
You aren't under threat becausepeople speak languages other
than English.
You aren't at risk when wecelebrate other cultures.
And for that matter, most ofso-called white culture is
stolen from other cultures.
You were not harmed by BadBunny's performance.
If you feel you were harmed,it's time to admit you're
(11:45):
racist.
White people are the only onesconsistently at the top of the
food chain.
For most of history, whitepeople have always been the
heroes in our stories.
Unfortunately, for most ofhistory, those stories weren't
white people's stories to tell.
Marginalized people have storiesto tell too.
(12:06):
Stories of triumphing overadversity.
Stories of love and heartache,stories of family.
Every human has their ownstory.
On Super Bowl Sunday, BenitoAntonio Martinez Ocasio shared
his.
It was a story of Puerto Ricoand all of America, not just the
(12:27):
United States.
We live in a global community.
It is futile to keep trying toisolate ourselves from people
who look or sound different fromus.
The United States was builtupon their shoulders, not the
shoulders of white people.
It is beyond time to stoppretending otherwise.
(12:49):
Thanks for listening, and I'lltalk to you in the next one.
I am so tired of white people.
Male VO (00:04):
This is Bad Attitudes.
Laura (00:21):
Hello, friends and strangers.
Welcome to another episode ofBad Attitudes, an uninspiring
podcast about disability.
I'm your host, Laura.
This week's supporter shout outgoes to Erica Sue.
Thank you for your support,Erica.
If you would like to hear yourname on a future episode,
consider supporting the podcaston Ko-Fi.
(00:43):
Visit ko-fi.com slash badattitudes pod for more
information.
You can also support the pod byvisiting our merch store at
badattitudeshop.etsc.com whereyou'll find podcast merch and
satisfyingly sarcastic designs,especially for the disabled and
(01:05):
chronically ill communities.
For questions, comments, orideas, visit the website at
badattitudespod.com, emailbadattitudespod at gmail.com, or
reach out through social media.
Follow at BadAttitudes Pod onInstagram, Facebook, Threads,
(01:26):
and Blue Sky.
As always, I want to remind youthat disability is not a
monolith.
My experience as a disabledperson is going to be different
from the experiences of otherdisabled people.
I am one voice for the disabledcommunity, but I am not the
only voice.
When this episode drops, it'llbe about two weeks post-Super
(01:48):
Bowl, but at the time ofwriting, the halftime show is
still fresh in everyone's mind,and as a white person, I just
have to say, I am so fuckingsick of white people.
On February 8th, Bad Bunny madehistory as the first artist to
perform a halftime show almostentirely in Spanish, and certain
(02:09):
demographics have been losingtheir shit ever since he was
announced as headliner.
Specifically the white MAGAdemographic.
A lot of poignant choices weremade for Super Bowl 60.
A halftime headliner who singsin Spanish.
An opening performance fromGreen Day, one of the most
popular and outspoken bandsperforming today, an out lesbian
(02:33):
performing America theBeautiful.
Messages were delivered.
But MAGA was so butthurt overthe choice of Bad Bunny, they
had to throw their ownretaliatory halftime show put on
by Turning Point USA, theorganization spearheaded by the
late Charlie Kirk.
Their headliner, Kid Rock,whose most recent pop culture
(02:56):
relevance was that time he wasshown shooting up a case of Bud
Light because it featured atrans woman, and then getting
caught on camera drinking BudLight.
Just as a side note, does anyoneelse giggle a little when you
see the mention of TP USAbecause, well, TP, it makes
sense since everything about itis shit.
(03:16):
There's no law that says youhave to be excited by every
halftime performer.
But the reaction and backlashto Bad Bunny has been outsized,
to say the least.
And if you're wondering whatany of this has to do with
disability, don't worry, I'mgetting there.
Did I understand what Bad Bunnywas singing?
No, I don't speak Spanish.
(03:38):
To be fair, I also don'tunderstand what most of the
halftime acts have been sayingbecause A, I'm not intimately
familiar with their music, andB, the sound is usually mediocre
at best.
I was actually impressed by BadBunny's sound quality if I'm
being honest.
Just because I couldn'tunderstand the words didn't mean
I didn't understand themessage.
(03:58):
And the most important messagewas in English.
The only thing more powerfulthan hate is love.
But the MAGA Base doesn't wantto focus on that.
They want to throw around falseinformation about Bad Bunny's
citizenship and claim it is themost vulgar halftime show ever.
You want me to believe this isworse than Nipplegate 2004?
(04:21):
Why?
Because he grabbed his crotch?
Oh hey, have you heard ofMichael Jackson?
He was the halftime performerin 1993 and practically invented
the crotch grab.
I bet if I rewatched Halftime2022 with Eminem, Dr.
Dre, Snoop Dogg, KendrickLamar, and Mary J.
Blige, I would see nothing butcrotch grabs.
(04:42):
Was it the dancing?
Because I don't remember theoutrage being quite so vitriolic
in 2020 when Shakira andJennifer Lopez were literally
dancing on poles.
Sure, people were upset, butnothing on this level.
Were some lyrics problematic?
Maybe.
But were they as problematic asI like them underage?
(05:05):
See, some say that's statutory,but I say that's mandatory.
This from Kid Rock, headlinerof the All-American TP USA
alternative.
And at the time of the 2004Super Bowl, didn't Justin
Timberlake's big song containthe lyric, bet I'll have you
naked by the end of this song?
The hypocrisy is deafening.
(05:27):
Honestly, most complainers arejust grasping at straws, trying
to find something to be offendedby, so they don't have to admit
what actually upsets them.
A non-white performerperforming an entire show in a
language that isn't English.
On a friend's Facebook post,someone commented that they wish
Bad Bunny had performed a mixof English and Spanish so more
(05:51):
of the country could understandthe message.
Quote, I watched TP USA on myiPad.
That message was clear.
It's because the message wasracism, Carol.
Of course it was clear.
A handful of mediocre white menwho are past their performing
prime threw a televised tantrumbecause they don't know multiple
(06:11):
languages.
Interestingly, Kid Rock hasperformed on the halftime show
before, 22 years ago, when hewas still culturally relevant.
Prior to the actual performance,nobody had anything to say
about Bad Bunny's lyrics or anypotential dancing.
He's the most streamed artiston Spotify.
People know his lyrics.
(06:33):
If you were concerned aboutvulgarity, the time to raise
that objection was before, notafter.
But you weren't concerned abouthis lyrics, only that he was
singing them in Spanish.
That was and remains the onlyreason TPUSA put on their show,
because the primetime halftimeshow wasn't going to be in
(06:54):
English.
Another random internet trollsaid it more succinctly.
Not a single white person insight.
Diversity means erasing you.
I have exactly zero sympathyfor white people who spent less
than 15 minutes not being thecenter of attention.
They aren't centered for asingle musical performance and
(07:17):
they lose their fucking minds.
Tell me you've never had tosearch for representation
without telling me you've neverhad to search for
representation.
Tell me your identity has neverbeen used for tokenism without
telling me your identity hasnever been used for tokenism.
Tell me you've always seenyourself in movies, TV shows,
(07:38):
and books without telling me.
Tell me you've always been themain character without telling
me you've always been the maincharacter.
Disabled people struggle withfinding quality representation
every day across all media.
We get one disabled characterand well, that's it.
(08:00):
We get one disabled character.
Whatever representation we doget is almost always used to
center someone else.
Another character, practicallyguaranteed not to be disabled.
We are props in someone else'sstory.
Consider two semi-recent moviesfeaturing a disabled main
character.
First, Me Before You, starringEmilia Clark and Sam Claflin.
(08:25):
Spoiler alert, Claflin plays adisabled man who eventually ends
his life with assisted suicide.
Clark's character, Lou, ishired to act as his caregiver.
Based on a novel, the entirearc, including the other
character's death, is used tolaunch Lou out of her dead-end
life and set her up for love andsuccess, chronicled in
(08:48):
subsequent books.
The second, The Upside,starring Bryan Cranston as a
paralyzed billionaire and KevinHart as a parolee, focuses on
their unlikely friendship, butis primarily a redemption
vehicle for Hart's character.
The Upside is the Englishlanguage version of multiple
foreign films, all inspired by atrue story.
(09:10):
Both films use disabledcharacters to advance the
stories of non-disabledprotagonists.
I'm not saying thisautomatically makes the movies
bad, but this is just theperpetuation of a common trope
when featuring disabledcharacters.
Both films also perpetuate theuse of non-disabled actors to
(09:31):
tell disabled stories.
I cannot tell you how manytimes I watch a movie or TV show
with a disabled character onlyto discover the actor isn't
actually disabled.
It is incredibly frustratingand disappointing and leads to
an outsized reaction when we doget authentically disabled
actors in disabled roles.
(09:53):
People wouldn't have talkedabout Marissa Bode so much if we
were used to seeing disabledactors playing disabled
characters.
Not that we shouldn't have beentalking about Marissa Bode.
I think she did a great job asNessa Rose.
At least in the first movie, Istill haven't seen the second
one.
My point is that if hiringdisabled actors were a common
(10:14):
practice, we could talk aboutother stuff.
I grew up disabled, and from mychildhood, I remember exactly
one instance of disabilityrepresentation in the media
available to me.
Her name was Kathy, and sheappeared in four episodes of
Different Strokes.
Actress Melanie Watson also hadosteogenesis imperfecta, but
(10:36):
beyond that, I don't feel like Irelated all that strongly to
the character.
In the first place, she couldgo to her friends' houses,
something I couldn't do sincenone of my friends' houses were
accessible.
And her friends were also superrich.
Can definitely not relate.
I had characters I could relateto, but no one I could identify
(10:59):
with completely.
Still, I'm not going to pretendlike I haven't also benefited
from the prevalence of whitepresenting representation.
For all I'm a disabled person,I'm a disabled white person.
And white privilege exists evenif I belong to a marginalized
community.
White people need to stopdemanding that everything center
(11:22):
whiteness.
You aren't under threat becausepeople speak languages other
than English.
You aren't at risk when wecelebrate other cultures.
And for that matter, most ofso-called white culture is
stolen from other cultures.
You were not harmed by BadBunny's performance.
If you feel you were harmed,it's time to admit you're
(11:45):
racist.
White people are the only onesconsistently at the top of the
food chain.
For most of history, whitepeople have always been the
heroes in our stories.
Unfortunately, for most ofhistory, those stories weren't
white people's stories to tell.
Marginalized people have storiesto tell too.
(12:06):
Stories of triumphing overadversity.
Stories of love and heartache,stories of family.
Every human has their ownstory.
On Super Bowl Sunday, BenitoAntonio Martinez Ocasio shared
his.
It was a story of Puerto Ricoand all of America, not just the
(12:27):
United States.
We live in a global community.
It is futile to keep trying toisolate ourselves from people
who look or sound different fromus.
The United States was builtupon their shoulders, not the
shoulders of white people.
It is beyond time to stoppretending otherwise.
(12:49):
Thanks for listening, and I'lltalk to you in the next one.
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