Singer, rapper, actor and LGBTQ advocate, Bad Bunny, took the stage to accept GLAAD’s Vanguard Award from fellow GLAAD Media Award recipient and music icon, Ricky Martin.
Like Beyoncé and JAY-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Kerry Washington, Cher, Janet Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Kacey Musgraves and Antonio Banderas before him, Bad Bunny was honored with the Vangaurd Award, which is presented to allies who have made a significant difference in promoting acceptance of LGBTQ people and issues. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Martin praised Bad Bunny for his allyship calling him an “icon for the Latin queer community.”
When Martin called him on to the stage by his real name (Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) and when Bad Bunny coolly took the stage to accept his the Vangaurd Award, he took the mic and asked permission from the audience to speak Spanish. The audience made it clear he could do whatever he wants.
“The first thing I want to do is say thank you to GLAAD for this recognition,” said Bad Bunny. “Thank you to the whole LGBTQ community for embracing me; for loving me the way they do and for looking up to me.”
He continued to say that he doesn’t do music for awards and said that he does everything because of how he feels. “I believe that following my heart has brought me to where I am; following my heart has brought me here receiving this award, surrounded by such beautiful people.”
“I believe that when you have a good heart and you give love, that’s what you receive back,” he said. That’s what I’ve wanted to do all this time with my music.”
“When you act in good faith and with your heart, that’s what happens: you’re brought to beautiful places, in front of beautiful people and I’m grateful for where I am. I’m grateful for the people that love me today.”
Bad Bunny’s advocacy and outspoken allyship for the LGBTQ community has reached millions around the world. Named Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2022, Grammy-winning artist uses his craft to powerfully speak out as an ally to transgender people and advance equality for the LGBTQ community, bringing his own voice to the forefront to help others see themselves in the world.
During his performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he paid homage to Alexa Negrón Luciano, a trans woman murdered in the city of Toa Baja, wearing a shirt in Spanish that read: “They killed Alexa, not a man in a skirt.” In 2019, the artist also helped influence a movement to force former Puerto Rican Governor, Ricardo Rosselló, to step down from office, after being exposed for corruption and anti-LGBTQ attitudes.
As he reimagines the Latin urban music genre, LGBTQ people and issues remain in the vanguards of equality and inclusion for him, especially those in Puerto Rico, where he was born. His live performances and music videos cast an array of voices, experiences, and backgrounds, showcasing queer love and affection on full display. For his music video for “Yo Perreo Sola,” he dressed in drag, telling Rolling Stone, “I did it to show support to those who need it. I may not be gay, but I’m a human.”
In addition Bad Bunny also plans to executive produce the forthcoming Netflix adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel, “They Both Die in the End,” which features a queer Latinx storyline.
Hulu is the official streaming partner for the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, for the third consecutive year. Stream the GLAAD Media Awards on Hulu, starting Wednesday, April 12.