Fox Host Tomi Lahren revealed she does not know Puerto Ricans are Americans in a Tuesday interview on her podcast with left-wing commentator Krystal Ball.
On an episode of Tomi Lahren is Fearless, the right-wing media darling and host of No Interruption on Fox Nation fearlessly declared that Bad Bunny “is not an American artist.”
“He’s Puerto Rican… That’s part of America, dear,” replied Ball.
The dismissive face the 33-year-old Lahren had maintained for 45 minutes up until that point wavered for a moment. She recovered quickly, and asked if Ball, 43, had any problems with Bad Bunny’s anti-ICE sentiments, to which Ball said, “America agrees with him on that.”
ICE had a -9 favorability rating in August polling by Pew Research.
The clip spread widely on social media as commenters clowned on Lahren for the error. On Friday, Lahren’s mistake was amplified by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Maria Cardona.
“She needs to crack a book,” quipped Cardona.
Lahren’s gaffe came amid conservatives’ annual meltdown over the Super Bowl Halftime Show performer, which in this case is the 31-year-old Puerto Rican artist, Bad Bunny.
Conservatives have taken issue with the fact that Bad Bunny, real name Benito Martinez Ocasio, raps primarily in Spanish and that he once said he would not tour in the United States out of concern for the safety of his fans.
In an interview with i-D, he said, “There was the issue of—like, f—ing ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
Though as an American citizen, Bad Bunny cannot be deported, the Trump administration has threatened ICE raids at the Super Bowl. Both DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski and Kristi Noem have promised ICE will be at the Super Bowl ready to snatch up attendees.
“[The NFL] suck[s] and we’ll win and God will bless us and we’ll stand and be proud of ourselves at the end of the day and they won’t be able to sleep at night,” said the Homeland Security Secretary.
Though Lahren took offense to the false notion that Bad Bunny is not an American citizen, it is relatively common for performers who aren’t from the U.S. to play the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Previous international performers that have played the show include Rihanna, The Who, Shakira, The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, U2, Enrique Iglesias, Paul McCartney, and The Rolling Stones.
“I’m not that knowledgable about him, but it seems fine, and I don’t see why it’s such a big deal,” said Ball in her conversation with Lahren.
“He seems like a great American artist.”
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