On the night Bad Bunny turned the Apple Music Super Bowl, LX Halftime Show into a fever dream of pink light, palm trees, and Puerto Rican pride, even the stars in his on-field casita were working in the dark.
TLDR
Bad Bunny’s Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show unfolded as an all-Spanish, heritage-driven spectacle that even his celebrity guests did not fully see coming. Insider David Grutman explains how Alix Earle and the casita circle came together.
Inside the Casita Circle
According to Page Six’s on-the-ground reporting, every twist in Bad Bunny’s halftime set list was held close, even from the celebrities invited to dance inches from him at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Hospitality mogul David Grutman, a longtime friend and business partner, was one of those pulled into the inner circle. He flew in to join Bad Bunny in the pastel casita that became the show’s visual heart, then woke up the next day still processing what he had just lived through.
“Vibes were amazing,” Grutman told Page Six over the phone. “I did a lot of cool things in my life. Obviously, this was top. This was insane. Just the energy and the whole thing.”
As Bad Bunny launched into “Yo Perreo Sola,” cameras caught Grutman dancing in the casita alongside Jessica Alba, Karol G, Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, and TikTok phenomenon Alix Earle. For viewers at home, it played like a fever-dream house party. For Grutman, it was the payoff to years of friendship and a string of what he calls “life-changing moments” with the artist.
The pair co-own Miami hotspot Gekko, and Grutman said he was there when Bad Bunny first received the life-altering call to headline the “Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show.” That history explained why he was invited not just to attend, but to stand beside him under the stadium lights.
“So he thought it was important that I be in the casita,” Grutman explained. “That was really sweet of him.”
From his vantage point on the field, Grutman said the set felt both massive and intimate, a carefully controlled storm that his friend had been quietly designing for months.
Why Alix Earle Mattered
Among the famous faces in that casita, it was Alix Earle who set social media alight. Her quick shots on the broadcast had fans pausing and rewinding, asking how the TikTok favorite landed a place beside a global stadium headliner.
Grutman, who is producing Earle’s upcoming Netflix reality series, said her presence in the halftime tableau was very intentional. He described the influencer to Page Six as “the face of Gen Z” and said Bad Bunny wanted the casita to reflect more than just music-industry power.
“He wanted to be inclusive of all, especially for the casita,” Grutman said. “He wanted to show a little bit of everything. And I think having her be the face of Gen Z and so much of America, I just think it is a great thing.”
Deadline has reported that Earle’s unscripted series will follow her rapid rise from college student to one of the most sought-after digital personalities in the country, with Grutman on board as a producer. Placing her on the Super Bowl stage folded that narrative into Bad Bunny’s own story, a deliberate collision of music royalty, legacy Hollywood, and new-media fame.
For brands and networks, the moment underlined how halftime cameos have shifted. It was no longer only about singers and surprise duets. Earle’s brief but prominent screen time signaled that creators who built their empires on phones are now part of the same pop culture constellation as Alba and Cardi B.
A Spanish Set, Global Stakes
Under the spectacle and celebrity, there was a quieter line in history being written. Grutman told Page Six that Bad Bunny’s parents were in the audience to watch their son become the first Super Bowl headliner to perform an entire halftime set in Spanish.
“I saw his mom and dad before the show, like when I first got there,” Grutman said. “They are just so proud.”
Bad Bunny has long insisted on centering Spanish in his music and public image. As Billboard has chronicled, he pushed Spanish-language tracks onto global charts without diluting his sound or identity, becoming a crossover star on his own terms.
That commitment has not always been met with universal applause. Grutman acknowledged that Bad Bunny walked into Levi’s Stadium amid criticism from some corners over his nationality and his refusal to switch languages for a mainstream American stage. He said the artist’s answer was to double down on the very things that made him distinctive.
“I think he just has so much confidence that he is going to deliver,” Grutman said. “If you are with him, when you spend time with him, you just know that there are special people that you come across in your life, and he is one of them.”
The result, televised around the world, was a halftime show that sounded like San Juan more than it did the traditional rock or pop templates. Instead of nostalgia covers or English-language sing-alongs, viewers got a cascade of trap drums, Caribbean rhythms, and Spanish hooks beamed into living rooms across generations.
The Friend Behind the Spectacle
Fans might know Grutman as the man behind some of Miami’s most photographed tables. Through Groot Hospitality, he has turned restaurants and clubs into extensions of celebrity culture, making nightlife itself part of the fame machine.
In private, he has also been one of the key figures helping Bad Bunny translate chart dominance into a lifestyle empire. Co-owning Gekko in Miami gave the artist a glamorous, brick-and-mortar extension of his brand and a place where music, food, and star power blur into one experience.
That is why, to Grutman, joining the halftime casita was not just a fun cameo. It was a full-circle moment, layered on top of years of shared milestones that started far from the midfield logo.
“I was with him for so many life-changing moments,” Grutman said, recalling the call that confirmed Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl headliner. Being invited into the casita felt like an unspoken acknowledgment of that history, a quiet thank-you dropped into the loudest show in America.
Grutman said the celebrities inside the casita worked closely with stylists to choose looks that matched the show’s saturated color palette, a mix of Miami fantasy and Puerto Rican street style. For viewers, it played as effortless glamour. For the people on the floor, it was a meticulously plotted piece of world-building.
Family Pride in the Stands
For all the choreography and costume changes swirling around him, some of the show’s most emotional weight sat quietly in the stands. Grutman described catching sight of Bad Bunny’s parents before kickoff and sensing just how large the moment loomed for them.
“I do not know what goes through their heads when their son came from this small village in Puerto Rico to where he is now,” he reflected to Page Six. “I do not know what the odds on something like that happening are.”
Those odds were part of the unspoken story told in every shot of Bad Bunny striding across the field in front of tens of thousands of fans. A child of Puerto Rico, who refused to trade his language for access, had turned the most American of televised rituals into a Spanish-language celebration with his parents in the seats.
Grutman said that is what fueled the absolute focus he saw from his friend in the days leading up to the game. The criticism, the pressure, and the global expectations all sat in the background. Front and center was a simple promise, one that Grutman believes explains how the show landed with such precision.
“He was definitely in charge of the entire thing,” Grutman said. “It is his voice.”
For one night in Santa Clara, that voice sounded exactly like home, even as it echoed out over the rest of the world.
Join the Discussion
Did Bad Bunny’s decision to perform an all-Spanish halftime show, and to spotlight someone like Alix Earle in his casita, change how you see what a Super Bowl performance can be?
