Unhealthy Bunny admits that he initially noticed the Grammys dwell captioning controversy involving his efficiency as “regular” earlier than questioning “why don’t they’ve somebody” who may caption his music in Spanish.
The award-winning Puerto Rican rapper, singer and songwriter who has often damaged business data and international boundaries together with his Spanish-language music has opened as much as Vainness Truthful about his expertise at this yr’s Grammys, the place his efficiency was featured alongside offensively unspecific captioning for the telecast.
As he carried out a melody of his hits like “El Apagón” and “Después de la Playa” in the course of the Recording Academy’s 2023 present, his efficiency was dwell captioned as “singing in non-English.” Whereas Spanish language closed captioning was added for on-demand Paramount+ streams, the dwell telecast was derided by Spanish-language viewers and by these within the Deaf neighborhood who depend on captions all through the present.
It additionally garnered a response from U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, who wrote to CBS earlier in regards to the captioning errors. In its personal response, CBS and its president and CEO George Cheeks took “full duty” for the incident, which additionally occurred as Unhealthy Bunny accepted an award, with Cheeks indicating that the community was reviewing its total dwell captioning course of.
For the rapper, whose start title is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, the incident was “so fucked up.”
“It’s ugly to say that I noticed it as regular. Then it was like, wow, wait a minute, what the hell? Why don’t they’ve somebody? Understanding that I used to be going to be there….” he stated, earlier than dismissing the motion. “I sing for individuals who wish to take heed to me and those that perceive me.”
Unhealthy Bunny additionally opened up about his Album of the Yr loss, which was met with criticism from followers after Harry Types not solely beat out the Puerto Rican rapper, however Beyoncé, Adele, Kendrick Lamar, and others. The protection of Un Verano Sin Ti towards Types’ Harry’s Home win has given the rapper pause.
“Possibly they weren’t prepared for a Spanish-language album to win the massive prize,” he stated. “I didn’t even really feel like [album of the year] had been stolen from me till the media began saying [it] and I noticed that everyone thought I deserved the prize and everyone thought it was a theft…. That’s after they sort of satisfied me and I stated, ‘Nicely, sure, it was a theft then.’”
Through the cowl story interview, Unhealthy Bunny — who isn’t fluent in English — additionally addressed why he’s so adamant about preserving his music in Spanish, whilst his English-language fan base grows. Whereas he’ll sing in English with the proper collaborator, “I’m by no means going to do it simply because somebody says I must do it to succeed in a sure viewers.”
“It’s not like I hate the concept” of performing in English, he added. “It’s simply that I really feel extra comfy in my very own language. I believe in Spanish, I really feel in Spanish, I eat in Spanish, I sing in Spanish.”
