Is Coca Cola pulling Super Bowl sponsorship over Bad Bunny performance? Here's what we know so far
The announcement of Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl next year has led to mixed responses. A rumour has surfaced claiming Coca Cola is planning to pull its sponsorship from the event in response to the NFL choosing Bad Bunny. Is there any truth to this? Find out here.
Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter, has been announced as the performer for the Super Bowl halftime show. This has raised some eyebrows in Washington, where the Trump administration is doubling down on illegal immigrants and pushing their MAGA agenda to the forefront of US policymaking.
The 31-year-old 'King of Latin Trap' is a vocal critic of the Trump administration's policies, and had even chosen to exclude US dates from his tour as he feared the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would use the occassion to crack down on undocumented immigrantrs, as per his interview with i-D Magazine.
"People from the US could come here to see the show. Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world. But there was the issue of—like, f**** ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about," he had said in the interview.
ICE at the Super Bowl
Now the US Secretary of Homeland Security. Kristi Noem, has herself confirmed that the ICE will be present at the Super Bowl in February.
In a podcast hosted by conservative political commentator Benny Johnson, Noem said, “I have the responsibility for making sure everybody goes to the Super Bowl, has the opportunity to enjoy it and to leave,” adding, that nobody who is not a “law-abiding Americans who love this country.” should not attend the event.
There was a huge uproar by far-right commentators once Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, was confirmed as the Super Bowl halftime show performer. Some were complaining that although the Super Bowl is an American event, Benny does not even sing in English.
Coca Cola pulling sponsorship?
Amid this controversy, a new issue has come to light -- has Coca Cola announced that it is withdrawing its sponsorship of the event because of the NFL's decision to book Bad Bunny for performing at the half-time show?
The controversy stems from an X post by a certain Desiree Stine, who has claimed that the Coca Cola CEO has said that he will be pulling the sponsorship if Bad Bunny performs at half-time. She even ended her post with how this has sent shockwaves across the world, "raising questions about culture, commerce, and the true cost of chasing global trends over American traditions."
However, this is complete falsehood and Coca Cola has not issued any such statement.
An X user asked Grok to verify her claims, and the AI chatbot's response was, "No, this claim isn't true. I've checked official sources like Coca-Cola's press releases and NFL news—no mention of any ultimatum from CEO James Quincey about Bad Bunny's 2026 Super Bowl halftime performance. It seems like misinformation from social media."
Notably, Coca Cola CEO James Quincey is himself not American (he is an Englishman born in London and raised in Birmingham). He himself is fluent in Spanish, having spent a sizable part of his career in Europe and Latin America.