How Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show sign language interpreter is making history

[Behind the Aegis]

Celimar Rivera Cosme will be the first Puerto Rican Sign Language (LSPR) interpreter in Super Bowl halftime show history.

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show performance is making history — in more ways than one.

In addition to being the first halftime show performed predominantly in Spanish, the "NuevaYol" singer's set will be the first in the game's 60-year history to be accompanied by a Puerto Rican Sign Language (LSPR) interpreter. (Super Bowl performers, including musicians who performed earlier at Super Bowl LX like Charlie Puth and Coco Jones, are ordinarily accompanied by American Sign Language interpreters.)

LSPR derived from ASL when it first developed in the early 1900s, but features cultural nuances, pacing differences, and other distinctions that make it unique to Puerto Rico.

Celimar Rivera Cosme, a native Puerto Rican who is hard of hearing, has been hired by the NFL to interpret Bad Bunny's set. The interpreter began working with the musician in 2022, a week after she publicly implored him to include an LSPR interpreter at his shows in an Instagram video, according to San Francisco PBS member station KQED.

more...

9 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	I am fluent in ASL or other form of Sign Language
	0 (0%)
	I can carry on a conversation in ASL or other form of Sign Language
	0 (0%)
	I know a small amount of ASL or other form of Sign Language & can fingerspell
	2 (22%)
	I can only fingerspell
	2 (22%)
	I can't communicate in ASL or other form of Sign Language
	5 (56%)
	Other
	0 (0%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[multigraincracker]

1. I've learned how to say Thank you

from President Obama and have used it.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. When I first got out of college, I spent a year working in a class of disabled kids ages 2-6

And I spent a lot of time with a little girl who was five since she was deaf and couldn't participate in all the activities, like music. So I started learning ASL right along with this very bright child. I still remember how excited she'd get when I'd let her know via ASL that her bus home had arrived. So after that I took a class in ASL myself and got so I could communicate, but I haven't had the chance to use it for a long time so have forgotten a lot.