Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) is demanding that a congressional committee launch an inquiry into the National Football League and NBC after they permitted “explicit displays of sexual acts and lyrics” to be displayed on national television in violation of FCC guidelines, his office announced.
“I write to request that you open a formal congressional inquiry, consistent with the Committee’s jurisdiction over broadcast regulation and FCC oversight, into the National Football League (NFL) and NBCUniversal regarding their prior knowledge, review, and approval of explicit and indecent content broadcast during the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show on February 8, 2026,” Ogles wrote in a letter to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY).
Ogles condemned that the Bad Bunny performance “was aired live during prime-time hours on over-the-air television and viewed by tens of millions of Americans, including a substantial number of children and families.”
Because the “Super Bowl is consistently the largest family viewing event in American media,” broadcasters “bear a heightened responsibility to ensure that programming aired during this uniquely national event complies with longstanding broadcast decency expectations and serves the public interest,” he wrote.
Some of the songs are known for their explicit sexuality. “While the set was performed predominantly in Spanish, it relied on songs whose sexual content remained readily apparent across any language barrier,” Ogles wrote. “This language barrier did not mitigate the explicit nature of the material; rather, it heightened the broadcaster’s obligation to exercise reasonable diligence in reviewing, translating, and evaluating the content prior to airing.”
Ogles then urged the Committee to examine the knowledge held by the NFL and NBC and hold broadcasters accountable “when explicit content is aired during programming that reaches a national audience of families and minors.”
