The Mission gets muy Benito ahead of Super Bowl LX
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Abdul Arroyave, 38 — the one who out-won them all in Thursday's Bad Bunny lookalike contest. Photo: Nadia Lopez/Axios
Thirty-three of San Francisco's most devoted Bad Bunny lookalikes packed Tacolicious in the Mission on Thursday for a chaotic and lively Benito-inspired lookalike showdown ahead of his halftime performance at the Super Bowl.
Why it maters: More than just a contest, the event became part of a broader cultural moment tied to the NFL's biggest weekend.
State of play: What started as a neighborhood game night turned into one of the most unexpectedly viral pre-Super Bowl moments in San Francisco — drawing hundreds of people as Bad Bunny fever reached a peak days before the big show on Sunday.
Between the lines: Onlookers and attendees spilled into the street, forming a massive block party as people danced and sang along to his most-loved tracks and cheered each new contestant as if they were the Puerto Rican superstar himself.
The wide age range — spanning from 6 to 60 — showed how deeply Bad Bunny's image and music resonates across generations of Latinos and beyond.
- Contestants showed up dressed as every recognizable era — buzz cuts, sunglasses, mustaches, oversized jackets and beards.
- Some nailed it, others were less convincing but just as entertaining, and everyone walked out feeling like a celebrity.
The contestant catwalk was among one of the highlights of the night, where each Benito doppelganger strut their best dance moves while attendees screamed, filmed and reveled in the chaos.
- The winner — Colombian-born Abdul Arroyave, 38 — donned a pava, a traditional wide-brimmed straw hat that's become emblematic of Bad Bunny's "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos," his Grammy-winning album that catapulted the Puerto Rican identity onto the global stage.
- He walked away with $100, a Tacolicious gift card and the loudest cheers of the night.
What they're saying: "I'm feeling so grateful," Arroyave, who busted out a Bad Bunny tune in a freakishly similar voice, told Axios post-win.
- When asked how he hopes his win may resonate with other immigrants, the seasoned performer said in Spanish he hopes they "never give up, to not surrender, to keep moving forward."
- "If things have gone badly right now, tomorrow the sun will rise again."
Catch up quick: Mission Lotería, a local small business collective, already hosts a monthly game night at Tacolicious that initially began in an effort to attract more business post-pandemic, said owner Joe Hargrave.
- Amid the Super Bowl-induced Bad Bunny frenzy, he teamed up with marketing consultant Steve Renteria to introduce a Bad Bunny theme, which quickly went viral.
- But the sheer number of people who began flooding the doors at 4pm came as a shock, Hargrave said.
- "I walked up and was like, 'is that for us,?'" he told Axios. "It's really needed in this neighborhood to have all this energy right now and it was a great — people are just looking for more experiential entertainment."
The intrigue: The frenzied fandom was center stage with a Bad Bunny-themed photo booth, drinks, food options, posters, trinkets, lotería cards and more.
💭 My thought bubble: Bad Bunny's influence goes well beyond music.
- He's become a symbol of visibility and success for all of us Latinos — a community that not only showed up in force tonight, but insists on being seen.