Bad Bunny did not include Liam Ramos in Super Bowl show
- Published on February 10, 2026 at 20:02
- 2 min read
- By Cintia NABI CABRAL, AFP France
- Translation and adaptation AFP USA
Bad Bunny presented what appeared to be his Grammy award to a young boy during his Super Bowl halftime show, leading many social media users to claim the Puerto Rican superstar had symbolically gifted his trophy to Liam Ramos, a 5-year-old Minnesota resident detained the month prior by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This is false; the National Football League (NFL) confirmed Ramos made no such appearance, and the child actor who participated in the show identified himself on Instagram while posting about the experience.
"Bad Bunny gave his Grammy to Liam Ramos, the little boy who was grabbed by ICE," says a February 8, 2026 post on X.
The post shows an infamous photo of Ramos being arrested by federal agents alongside images of the young boy who received the trophy during Bad Bunny's set.
Similar claims spread widely across X and other platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, including in Spanish, French, Portuguese and Turkish.
ICE detained Ramos and his father, who are asylum seekers from Ecuador, on January 20 in Minneapolis as the boy arrived home from preschool. The two were later released, and images of the boy in a blue bunny hat being held by officers stoked public outrage over President Donald Trump's surge of immigration agents to the Democratic city, which has seen agents fatally shoot two US citizens.
Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, spoke out against ICE during the February 1 Grammy Awards, where he became the first artist to win Album of the Year with an entirely Spanish-language record.
During his Super Bowl halftime show on February 8, the Puerto Rican artist rattled through a series of hits in a set emphasizing unity and Puerto Rican culture. The performance included brief cameos from celebrities including actor Pedro Pascal and Colombian singer Karol G, plus other lesser-known figures such as the owner of the Caribbean Social Club in Brooklyn.
But there was no appearance by the young Ramos, as claimed online.
A spokesman for the NFL confirmed to AFP in a February 8 email that the child was not Ramos.
Through keyword searches, AFP found the Instagram account for the child actor who played the role, Lincoln Fox (archived here).
In a February 8 post, the account shared footage of the moment and wrote (archived here): "I'll remember this day forever!"
Another February 9 post explained that Fox was meant to represent a "young Benito," comparing his outfit during the performance to a picture of Bad Bunny as a child (archived here). The publication also appeared to acknowledge the confusion about Fox's identity with a note "sending love to Liam Ramos."
In a comment replying to another page's fact-check of the claims misidentifying Fox as Ramos, Fox's account replied (archived here): "Thank you for clarifying! That's me!"
Univision's Candy Martinez also clarified the mixup while sitting next to Fox in a video posted to her Instagram.
ICE's operations have already generated numerous false claims online.
AFP has also fact-checked other misinformation surrounding Bad Bunny's Super Bowl performance.
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