The child in Bad Bunny’s halftime show was an actor
There was much speculation about the boy’s identity. The young actor posted on social media about his experience as part of Bad Bunny’s performance.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The child whom Bad Bunny handed a Grammy Award to during his Super Bowl halftime performance was not the 5-year-old boy who was detained as part of a recent immigration operation in Minnesota, two people with knowledge of the situation confirmed Sunday evening.
The moment occurred during the Puerto Rican superstar’s performance at Levi’s Stadium, in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday, when Bad Bunny gave what appeared to be a replica Grammy to a child.
Even before the performance was over, many people on social media were speculating that the boy was Liam Conejo Ramos, who last month was taken by officials in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, to a detention center in Texas. Images of Liam being led away while wearing a Spider-Man backpack further inflamed divisions surrounding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The boy in Bad Bunny’s performance was a child actor named Lincoln Fox Ramadan, who posted about his experience on social media shortly after the performance. Some viewers wondered whether the child was meant to be a young version of Bad Bunny himself. One of the people with knowledge of the performance said the interaction was intended as a general moment of optimism aimed at young viewers. “Always believe in yourself,” Bad Bunny had said to the boy at the end of the scene.
Ever since the NFL announced Bad Bunny as the headliner for the Super Bowl halftime show in September, the decision has been a political flash point. Bad Bunny, who is now the first artist to perform the halftime show predominantly in Spanish, has long been outspoken against President Donald Trump and his administration’s immigration policies. A week before his halftime performance, Bad Bunny declared “ICE out” on the Grammys stage when accepting one of the three awards he won that night.
After Bad Bunny’s performance Sunday, Trump took to social media to deride it. “One of the worst, EVER!” the president had written on Truth Social, adding, “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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