What is the story behind 'God Bless America'? Origin explored as Bad Bunny goes viral for sitting during the song at a Yankees game

Puerto Rican singer and rapper Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, raised eyebrows among conservative critics for reportedly refusing to stand up when God Bless America played at the New York Yankees game on October 7, 2025.

For those uninformed, God Bless America is a patriotic song written by Irving Berlin and released in 1938, just before World War II. The Yankees are reportedly the only baseball team to play God Bless America during every home game, a tradition that began after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

According to a recent TMZ report, Bad Bunny was spotted at the New York Yankees game on Tuesday with some friends. During the 7th inning stretch, most attendees stood up to sing God Bless America. However, the Puerto Rican rapper remained seated.

Following this, Bad Bunny gained backlash from many conservatives, who were already critical of him being chosen to headline the upcoming Super Bowl halftime. The outcry for the Super Bowl show stemmed from the rapper's remarks about ICE and a lack of English songs in his discography.

In a September 2025 interview with i-D Magazine, Bad Bunny said he was reluctant to perform in the US as he was worried that ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents might be outside his shows.

"People from the US could come here to see the show. Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world. But there was the issue of—like, f**king ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about," he said.

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Exploring the story of God Bless America

According to his website, Irving Berlin immigrated to New York City at the age of five. He was drafted into the US Army during World War I and stationed at Camp Upton. In 1918, Berlin wrote God Bless America for Yip, Yip, Yaphank, a show he created to entertain soldiers during World War I.

In a 1954 letter to Abel Green, editor of Variety, Berlin explained that God Bless America, which had been written as the show's finale, was dropped after he realized it was a bit over the top.

"I wrote 'God Bless America' at Camp Upton in 1918 to be the finale of Yip, Yip, Yaphank. As you may remember, the show opened on August 19th at the Old Century Theater. The finale - the boys were alerted in the scene before that they were going overseas, and in overseas outfits, including helmets, they marched through the Theater, went out to the street and backstage where they boarded a transport, and as the lights lowered, the transport, on wheel, slowly moved off stage," he wrote. "It was a very touching and emotional scene. As I remember, the song they sang was 'In the Y.M.C.A.' as the curtain came down. Having that finale in mind, it seemed painting the lily to have soldiers sing 'God Bless America' in that situation, so I didn’t use it," he continued.

In his letter to Green, Berlin wrote about visiting Germany in 1938 and being concerned about Adolf Hitler's growing power. On the way back, he “tried to write a song that [he] felt at that time” and composed Thanks, America, but was not satisfied.

Berlin then remembered that he had written God Bless America and decided to rewrite it to suit the current times. In the letter, Berlin added that he tweaked the existing song as he wanted it "to be a song of peace." He also wrote that Kate Smith performed the song on her radio show, titled The Kate Smith Hour, that November.

"In 1918 it was written as a war song, which the phrase 'make her victorious on land and foam' indicates. In 1938, I didn’t want it to be a war song. I wanted it to be a song of peace. On Armistice Day, 1938, I spoke to Ted Collins [Kate Smith’s manager] and he wanted a song for Kate Smith to sing on that program, where she introduced it," Berlin wrote.

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Bad Bunny addressed Super Bowl backlash

During his recent Saturday Night Live appearance, Bad Bunny addressed the MAGA backlash he experienced after he was announced as the headliner for the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. In the SNL episode on October 4, the Puerto Rican star said he was "very happy" to perform at the Super Bowl, sarcastically adding that "everyone is happy about it, even Fox News."

Following this, the show played a clip of multiple Fox News anchors spliced together to say, “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician, and he should be the next president.” He then continued his monologue in Spanish, before jokingly adding that everyone had four months to learn the language.

The Super Bowl is scheduled for February 8, 2026, at Levi's Stadium in California.

Edited by Juhi Marzia