Bad Bunny had the internet buzzing earlier this week not only for his standout Grammy performance but a closed caption fiasco with the network airing the event. During his Spanish-language performance and bilingual acceptance speech, the live closed captioning read “[SINGING IN NON-ENGLISH]” and “[SPEAKING NON-ENGLISH].” CBS faced immediate backlash for the lack of preparation and inclusivity — and there’s one surprising music figure getting involved in the conversation. Believe it or not: 50 Cent.
On Feb. 9, the rapper made his thoughts public on Bad Bunny not receiving the proper closed captioning. “The Grammys need to be check about this,” the American rapper wrote in an Instagram post. “Fvcking @badbunnypr bigger than everybody right now, and you can’t pay for closed caption[s]. Wtf is this speaking Non-English. FIX IT !” The photo showed Benito performing with the subtitles reading: “Speaking non-English” and “Singing in non-English.”
In a following Instagram post, he published another photo of Benito accepting his Grammy award with the subtitles reading: “Puerto Rico – [Speaking non-English].” He captioned the photo with: “👀WTF going on here, I DONT WANT TO HEAR SHIT FIX IT!”
Though CBS’s Grammys rebroadcast now has Spanish-language closed captioning, 50 Cent wasn’t the only one upset about the language negligence that showed during Benito’s initial Grammy appearance. One social media user wrote: “The closed caption during Bad Bunny is embarrassing #GRAMMYs.” Another Twitter user shared the same feeling: “The opening performer is a Latino global superstar, and the production didn’t spring for Spanish closed captioning 😐 #GRAMMYs.”
Even the Puerto Rican superstar himself posted photos of the “Speaking non-English” and “Singing in non-English” television closed captions. Although he didn’t write anything specifically about the television flop, it’s safe to say he was aware of the occurrence. On the same photo dump, he shared a message about gratitude.
“The most beautiful word that exists is: THANK YOU,” he wrote. “I am grateful to God, for life, for the love I receive. Grateful I get to experience moments I never imagined. Thankful for the people who truly love me, the ones who genuinely support me, the ones that understand me, and the ones who don’t as well. Grateful to be able to do what I love most, MUSIC. I’m happy, I’m proud of myself and for that I give THANKS.”
