During Bad Bunny’s historic Super Bowl LX halftime show, people thought they saw a familiar face when the Puerto Rican superstar handed his Grammy to a young Latino boy.
The rumor quickly circulated on social media that the child was Liam Conejo Ramos, the internet-famous 5-year-old detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis. The boy was recently released from Dilley’s South Texas Family Residential Center after a national outcry over his treatment.
However, both Bad Bunny’s team and the formerly detained 5-year-old’s family quickly tried to quash the rumor, NPR reports.
A publicist for Bad Bunny told NPR Music that the little boy on stage wasn’t Liam Conejo Ramos. A representative for the Conejo Ramos family also denied the rumor when reached by Minnesota Public Radio.
In truth, the boy in Bad Bunny’s performance was a child actor and model named Lincoln Fox Ramadan, the New York Times reports.
Ramadan, who’s half Argentinian and half Egyptian and also five years old, posted about his experience in an Instagram reel, with the caption “I’ll remember this day forever!”
As he kneels down and rubs the boy’s head in the video clip, Bad Bunny says: “Cree siempre en ti” (“Always believe in yourself”).
In Bad Bunny’s halftime show brimming with symbolism and an expansive definition of what constitutes “America,” viewers also speculated that Ramadan was meant to signify a young version of the Puerto Rican six-time Grammy winner. However, a source with inside knowledge of the performance told the New York Times that it was meant to serve as a general moment of optimism for all young viewers.
Actual guest appearances during the performance included vocal features by Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga, as well as dance cameos by Cardi B, Jessica Alba and Pedro Pascal. Puerto Rican business owners were also featured heavily in the set.
President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social immediately after watching Bad Bunny’s performance — and also snubbing Turning Point USA’s Kid Rock alternative — calling the Super Bowl halftime show “one of the worst, EVER!”
“Nobody understands a word this guy is saying,” Trump said.
However, 41 million people — or 13% of the population — speak Spanish at home in the United States, according to a 2019 U.S. Census report.
Though Nielsen results are still coming in, early figures show it was the most-watched halftime performance of all time with more than 135 million viewers, CBS News reports. Bad Bunny’s halftime show also trounced Turning Point USA’s “All-American Halftime Show,” which raked in 6.1 million viewers by comparison, according to the New York Times.
Adding to the right’s culture-war embarrassment, TPUSA halftime headliner Kid Rock lip-synced badly though the performance was pre-taped, Consequence of Sound reports.
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