It seemed like the Super Bowl was going to be a pretty queer night. Lesbian icon Brandi Carlile was set to sing America the Beautiful, and Bad Bunny was rumored to be wearing a dress during his halftime performance.

Instead, the evening delivered what might best be described as a “gay vague” whisper.

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Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show was queer-inclusive — and he didn’t even have to wear a dress

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The retreat was noticeable. Gay Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy has been the face of Homes.com Super Bowl ads for the last two years, but he was notably missing in this year’s spot, which only featured co-stars Heidi Gardner and Jeff Goldblum.

Volkswagen, which featured a lesbian wedding scene in its 2024 Super Bowl spot, returned this year to the big game but made no LGBTQ+ references this time.

Even the religious campaign He Gets Us, which has in the past made LGBTQ+ inclusion part of its Super Bowl presence by featuring a queer man’s foot being washed by a priest in 2024 and a religious person embracing a gay man at Pride in 2025, omitted any references to the rainbow community this year.

Still, there were a couple of queer celebrity highlights.

Bravo and CNN star Andy Cohen appeared in a puzzling candy endorsement for Nerds Juicy Gummy Clusters in which he appears in a giant closet to give a gummi bear a makeover for a red-carpet debut.

Ritz featured gay former Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang alongside Scarlett Johansson and Jon Hamm. The three are supposed to be “salty,” but the humor doesn’t compare to last year’s Super Bowl spot featuring bisexual White Lotus star Aubrey Plaza and, coincidentally, Bad Bunny.

Speaking of Bad Bunny, the halftime show was a stunning theatrical performance that wowed viewers – albeit without the rumored dress. Queer pop stars Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga’s surprise cameos won us over, and sharp-eyed viewers caught two male dancers paired together.

But back to the commercials.

With Mattel’s Ken doll celebrating his 65th birthday (yet still looking 20!), Expedia featured Ken traveling to Italy and Japan. The final shot shows him in a yellow car with a long, flowing yellow scarf trailing behind him.

In a spot for Tree Hut, we found one bearded man among 100 women who break free of boring skin products.

Turning attention to rear ends, the Super Bowl had lots of references to butts, aside from the tight team uniforms.

To the tune of Get Up Offa That Thing by James Brown, a Levi’s campaign showed us a series of famous rears, including queer crooner George Michael’s derriere (from his 1987 Faith video), Bruce Springsteen’s rump (from 1984’s Born in the USA), a voguing dancer, and bisexual rapper Doechii’s backside.

Not missing the humor in football’s “tight end” position, pharmaceutical company Novartis aired “Relax Your Tight End,” raising awareness for a new cancer screening blood test while featuring actual tight end players in various states of bliss. The narrator asks, “Have you ever in your life seen tight ends this relaxed?” Not queer, but cute.

The biggest advertising day of the year once rippled with rainbow references: gay dads for Coca-Cola, drag queens for Sabra hummus, and lesbian weddings for Volkswagen. But in the current political environment, following last year’s conservative backlash that led 20 major brands to reduce or eliminate their Pride month campaigns, it’s unsurprising that Super Bowl advertisers avoided rolling out the rainbows.

We can cheer the inclusion of Cohen, Yang and Doechii, but queer celebrities without LGBTQ+ storylines start to become more like the Ken doll – “gay vague” representation that is neither specific enough to offend anyone nor substantial enough to take Pride in.

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