Bad Bunny is the latest cover star of Playboy magazine, and the moment is history-making for several reasons.
The Puerto Rican singer and reggaeton star is Playboy’s first-ever digital cover star with two covers. He’s also the only man – aside from the late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner – to appear solo on the cover of the cult-favorite publication.
Speaking to Playboy, Bad Bunny got candid about his genre-breaking music and style, and spoke of being an LGBTQ+ and femme ally in the machismo world of Latin music. “I do all of this and I’m not even sure what I cause,” he says. “It’s not until someone comes up to me and tells me, ‘Man, thank you,’ that I realize the impact.”
He continued, “There’s nothing worse than being somewhere and feeling like you don’t belong. I’ve been trying to make sure everybody feels part of the culture of reggaetn. I want to make sure they feel that they have someone there, that friend that can stand up for them.”
Bad Bunny’s “impact” is past music, his gender-fluid style and political outspokenness have made him an especially fascinating and beloved fixture in reggaeton and beyond.
“I think I have an audience split in two: fans of Bad Bunny and fans of reggaetn itself, and I want to merge the two,” he explained. “I feel I have a big sector to educate. There’s a lot of people who won’t pay attention to other people calling them out, but they follow Bad Bunny. If he tells them what’s good, maybe they can grow as people and come to accept others.”
You can read Bad Bunny’s full cover issue here.