Bad Bunny’s performance has fans calling the Grammys ‘racist’ and ‘ignorant’

The caption during Bad Bunny’s performance at the Grammy Awards read “SINGING IN NON-ENGLISH”, prompting backlash from fans.

The hugely popular Puerto Rican artist kicked off the show with a medley of songs in Spanish. Viewers, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing, complained that the reductive transcription in the subtitles was “insulting”, “racist” and “ignorant”.

Although Bad Bunny’s victory was not known before the show, his act certainly was, leaving Grammy organizers and CBS guilty for not hiring a bilingual captionist, Deadline noted. Other acts were transcribed on screen, the entertainment site reported.

Deepening disrespect is the reach of Bad Bunny, Twitter users pointed out. He streamed more than Taylor Swift in the recently released Spotify data and finished second overall behind Drake. But many felt he was treated like a second-class citizen at the ceremony.

The recent Sundance Film Festival was hit with a walkout from jurors, including deaf Oscar winner Marlee Matlin, because the captioning didn’t work during the premiere of a film in competition, ” Magazine Dreams”.

CBS was planning to use Spanish subtitles on a West Coast rerun of the Grammy Awards, sources told Deadline, but it was too late for many.