Concho, Bad Bunny, and the Puerto Rican Symbol Spreading Fast (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: How did this little guy become a symbol for Bad Bunny, Puerto Rico, and anti-ice? I got my favorite one. Cool, cool, cool, cool. I got the mystery one. This is Concho, a.k.a. El Sapo Concho, a character that's quietly become a part of Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny's world. And sure, he's cute, but he also carries culture. Sapo Concho refers to the Puerto Rican crested toad, an amphibian unique to the island and currently endangered. So when Bad Bunny started weaving Concho into his latest album's visuals and merch, fans paid attention. Suddenly, the toad is everywhere, recently popping up in San Francisco on anti-ice posters. Bad Bunny has been vocal about ice operations in the U.S. and said that part of his decision to not tour U.S. mainland last year was that he didn't want to put fans, many of them Latinos, at risk of being picked up by immigration authorities. And in the Grammys, Benito used the stage to deliver the message, ice out. But Concho is also on murals, t-shirts, plush toys, keychains.

[00:01:08] Speaker 2: We're looking right now at Unboxing Concho.

[00:01:11] Speaker 1: The cartoon Concho was designed in part by 20-year-old Sebastian Muñiz Morales from his grandparents' home in Ponce in southern Puerto Rico. I spoke to him last year.

[00:01:22] Speaker 2: Concho represents basically what a Puerto Rican is in different feelings. Basically what I did was dress Concho with this emblematic short that Tito Trinidad and Macho Camacho have used in their fights.

[00:01:38] Speaker 1: And now a crossover. Concho jumping from music culture straight into sports, showing up on officially licensed NFL merch ahead of Bad Bunny's historic Super Bowl performance. The Bad Bunny effect. Concho keeps shining in places that initially may not have been built for him. And maybe that's the point.