Bad Bunny hit with $16 million lawsuit ahead of Super Bowl halftime show
- - Bad Bunny hit with $16 million lawsuit ahead of Super Bowl halftime show
Shania RussellJanuary 14, 2026 at 6:53 AM
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Bad Bunny performs during the 'SNL50' concert in February 2025
Bad Bunny is facing a new $16 million lawsuit from a woman who claims that he used a recording of her voice on two of his songs without getting her permission.
The lawsuit filed against the three-time Grammy-winning rapper, whose full name is Benito Martínez Ocasio, claims that the Latin rapper sampled the voice of Tainaly Y. Serrano Rivera without her consent. Rivera alleges that her voice appears in Bad Bunny’s 2018 song “Solo de Mi” and most recently in "EoO" from his 2025 album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, according to a translation of the Spanish-language complaint, which EW has reviewed.
In the audio, Rivera says, "Mira, puñeta, no me quiten el perrero," which roughly translates to, "Look, asshole, don’t take away the perreo." (Perreo is a hip-driven dance style synonymous with reggaeton.) Rivera claims the catchphrase has since become widely associated with Bad Bunny; he frequently plays it during concerts and also uses iterations of the phrase on his merch.
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Bad Bunny performs in Mexico City in December 2025
Rivera further alleges that she recorded the line in 2018 at the request of Bad Bunny's longtime producer Roberto J. Rosado, known professionally as La Paciencia, when they were both students in the theater program at the Interamerican University of Arecibo. She claims that she never signed a contract, license or written authorization allowing its inclusion in the songs and was not informed that the recording would be used for commercial or advertising purposes.
Rivera is demanding $16 million from the "DtMF" rapper and his record label, Rimas Entertainment, for violating her privacy and publicity rights.
Representatives for Bad Bunny and Rimas Entertainment did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.
This latest lawsuit comes nearly three years after the rapper was sued by his ex-girlfriend, Carliz De La Cruz Hernández, who claims she came up with and recorded the phrase "Bad Bunny, baby," which can be heard on the artist’s songs “Pa Ti” and “Dos Mil 16.” Hernández is being represented by the same legal team as Rivera, attorneys Jose Marxuach Fagot and Joanna Bocanegra.
In Hernández's complaint, reviewed by PEOPLE, her attorneys allege that the 2015 recording has been featured in multiple songs from the artist in addition to being used at concerts and in promotional material on social media, radio, and television. The complaint additionally claims that a representative for Bad Bunny offered to buy the rights to the recording for $2,000 in May 2022, just before his album Un Verano Sin Ti was released. De Hernández rejected the offer, but claims the tracks using her voice were ultimately released, unchanged, despite her not being compensated.
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Bad Bunny attends the 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit in October 2023 in Cleveland
The complaint stated that the continued use of her recording "has caused, and currently causes Hernández to feel worried, anguished, intimidated, overwhelmed and anxious." The court filing also says thousands of people have commented on her social media about the line, and "the situation for De La Cruz became unmanageable, to the point that she needed to contact multiple psychologists for help as soon as possible." The case is still pending.
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Bad Bunny, who is currently one of the biggest musical artists on the planet with over 107 billion streams on Spotify and 49.5 million followers on Instagram, is currently gearing up to headline the 2026 Apple Music Super Bowl LX halftime show on Feb. 8.
on Entertainment Weekly
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