On the heels of his historic night at the Grammy Awards, Bad Bunny is set to take the stage for the halftime show at the 2026 Super Bowl on Sunday, as the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks meet in a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX.

The hugely popular Puerto Rican rapper and singer says he’ll bring “a lot of my culture” to the big game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Who is performing in the Super Bowl halftime show for 2026?

The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced in September that Bad Bunny will be this year’s halftime show headliner.

The 31-year-old superstar, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, won two top awards at the Grammys last Sunday — Best Música Urbana Album and Album of the Year for his record “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” — the first time an all Spanish-language album earned the night’s biggest award.

“To be honest, I don’t know how I’m feeling. There’s a lot. I’m still in the middle of my tour. I was just at the Grammys last week. All of that,” Bad Bunny said at a Thursday news conference hosted by Apple Music, which is sponsoring the halftime show. 

“I’m excited, but at the same time, I feel more excited about the people than even me — my family, my friends, the people who have always believed in me,” he said. “This moment, the culture — that’s what makes these shows special.”

He was tight-lipped about what the performance would entail or if there would be any other artists joining him onstage.

“It’s going to be a huge party,” Bad Bunny said. “I want to bring to the stage, of course, a lot of my culture. But I really don’t, I don’t want to give any spoilers. It’s going to be fun.”

The halftime show will also feature interpreter Celimar Rivera Cosme doing Puerto Rican Sign Language.

Bad Bunny will be the first native Spanish speaker to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, and his selection prompted criticism from some, including President Trump. Another wave of backlash cropped up when Bad Bunny said “ICE out” during one of his Grammy acceptance speeches last week. 

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has repeatedly defended and stood by the selection.

“I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching,” Goodell said in October. 

“He’s one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world,” Goodell said. “That’s what we try to achieve. It’s an important stage for us. It’s an important element to the entertainment value.”

Asked about Bad Bunny’s comments at the Grammy Awards, Goodell told reporters, “Bad Bunny is, and I think that was demonstrated last night, one of the great artists in the world, and that’s one of the reasons we chose him.”

“But the other reason is he understood the platform he was on, and that this platform is used to unite people, and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, with their talents, and to be able to use this moment to do that,” he said. “And I think artists in the past have done that. I think Bad Bunny understands that, and I think he’ll have a great performance.”

Who sang the national anthem at the 2026 Super Bowl?

Charlie Puth took on national anthem duties at the Super Bowl this year. The 34-year-old singer has called the national anthem “one of the most beautiful pieces of music,” but has also said it is “the hardest to sing.”

The New Jersey native started out posting videos of himself singing on YouTube, but his career has since blossomed, and he’s released four albums and been nominated for four Grammy Awards.

Full list of Super Bowl performers for 2026

• Green Day — The Bay Area-based punk rockers performed at the Super Bowl opening ceremony.
• Charlie Puth — Puth sang “The Star Spangled Banner” before the game.
• Brandi Carlile — The 11-time Grammy-winner sang “America the Beautiful.”
• Coco Jones — The Grammy-winning singer performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” widely known as the Black national anthem.
• Bad Bunny — The Puerto Rican superstar is headlining the halftime show.

• Invitation extended by US President Donald Trump in January.
• Final decision on PM’s participation to be made in coming days.
• Initiative seeks reconstruction, stability, lasting UN-backed solution in Gaza.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is expected to attend the first leaders’ meeting of the US-initiated Gaza ‘Board of Peace’ in Washington on February 19, according to sources privy to the matter. 

The development follows an invitation extended by US President Donald Trump to Pakistan to join the Board of Peace on Gaza, which the Foreign Office (FO) confirmed on January 18, 2026.

Sources, however, said a final decision on PM Shehbaz’s participation in the international moot, to be chaired by the US president at the Donald J Trump Institute for Peace, would be made in the coming days.

“Pakistan will be in attendance. The invitation was sent to the prime minister, and it is expected that he will attend. Consultations are continuing and, in a few days, the government will make an announcement. It is an important event,“ The News reported, quoting diplomatic sources.

Last month, FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said that Pakistan would continue to engage with international efforts aimed at peace and security in Gaza.

“Pakistan will remain engaged with international efforts for peace and security in Gaza, leading to a lasting solution to the Palestine issue in accordance with United Nations resolutions,” he said.

Pakistan has reiterated at international forums its readiness to play a “constructive role” in the US peace plan for Palestine.

In December 2026, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan’s civil and military leadership was fully aligned on not sending troops to Gaza to disarm Hamas. 

The planned meeting was first reported by Axios, which said the gathering would also serve as a fundraising conference for the reconstruction of Gaza.

“We can confirm the Board of Peace meeting is scheduled on February 19th,” the official said in a statement to Reuters. Further questions were referred to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The meeting would be held at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, Axios reported. 

At least one world leader has confirmed his participation. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of Trump’s closest allies in the European Union, said at a campaign event on Saturday in the western city of Szombathely that he would go to Washington in two weeks to attend the Board of Peace meeting.

In late January, Trump launched the board that he will chair and which he says will aim to resolve global conflicts, leading to some experts being concerned that such a board could undermine the United Nations.

Gaza ceasefire violations

Governments around the world have reacted cautiously to Trump’s invitation to join the initiative. While some of Washington’s Middle Eastern allies have joined, many of its traditional Western allies have thus far stayed away. Permanent membership on the board costs $1 billion.

A UN Security Council resolution, adopted in mid-November, authorised the board and countries working with it to establish an international stabilisation force in Gaza, where a fragile ceasefire began in October under a Trump plan on which Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas signed off.

Under Trump’s Gaza plan, revealed late last year, the board was meant to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump thereafter said it would be expanded to tackle global conflicts.

A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the planned Board of Peace meeting.

Many rights experts say that Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory’s affairs resembled a colonial structure and have criticised the board for not including a Palestinian. 

The fragile ceasefire in Gaza has been repeatedly violated, with over 550 Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers reported killed since the truce began in October.

Bad Bunny’s selection as the Super Bowl LX halftime show performer has stirred a wide mix of reactions in the build-up to the clash between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, with music, politics and expectations all colliding before kick-off.

The Puerto Rican Grammy Award winner has been a talking point not just for his chart success, but also for his outspoken criticism of Trump administration policies, particularly the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeting undocumented immigrants. 

That background has left some wondering what tone he might strike on one of the biggest stages in sport.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed those concerns earlier in the week, saying he believed Bad Bunny understood the scale and responsibility of the halftime platform. 

Goodell expressed hope that the performance would bring fans together rather than deepen existing divisions.

Former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III echoed that sentiment, stressing that the focus should remain on the music. 

Speaking to Fox News Digital ahead of Sports Illustrated’s Super Bowl party on Saturday night, Griffin said, “One thing I know Bad Bunny can do is that he can all make us tap our feet and shake our b**ties. I want him to go out there and unite people with music.” 

He added, “Music we can all dance to it and enjoy. So, I’m looking forward to the performance. I’m not worried about the politics. I’m not worried about any statements. Just have a good time and do what you’re supposed to do, uniting the world around something that is eternal. Music is the heartbeat of the world.”

Not everyone shared that enthusiasm. 

When asked whether he was excited about the halftime show, Logan Paul gave a blunt response to Fox News Digital, simply saying, “No!”

Other former NFL players were more upbeat. 

Todd Gurley and Danny Amendola both said they were looking forward to the music, signalling that, for some, the entertainment aspect outweighs any off-field debate.

Bad Bunny’s political views have remained part of the conversation in the days leading up to the game. 

His criticism of ICE resurfaced after he reinforced his position at the Grammy Awards, saying, “ICE out. We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens, we are humans, and we are Americans.”

As Super Bowl LX approaches, the reaction to Bad Bunny’s involvement highlights the balance many fans are hoping for, a performance that delivers energy and spectacle, while navigating the intense scrutiny that comes with one of the most-watched events in the world.