Bad Bunny Sweeps the Creative Arts Emmys
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known to the world as Bad Bunny, is having quite a week. His February 2026 Super Bowl LX halftime show swept seven trophies at the Creative Arts Emmys, setting a new record for any artist who's ever taken that stage. The 32-year-old walked away with honors for Outstanding Variety Special (Live), Music Direction, Choreography, Sound Mixing, Lighting Design, Technical Direction/Camerawork, and Directing.
That's not a small feat. Only one other halftime show has ever landed the night's biggest program award — the 2022 performance featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent. Bad Bunny's set also broke new ground as the first Spanish-language program to take home that particular Emmy.
His haul didn't stop there, either. The season opener of Saturday Night Live, which he hosted, also earned an Emmy — this one for Outstanding Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program.
A Sore Subject for Trump
All of this comes at an awkward moment for President Trump, who has a long and bitter history with the Emmys. As executive producer of The Apprentice, Trump never won a single trophy despite the show racking up nominations and submissions year after year. He was up for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program in both 2004 and 2005, losing on both occasions to CBS's The Amazing Race. Later submissions for the franchise's spin-offs through 2006 fared no better.
Trump did get one memorable Emmys moment, though — just not the kind he wanted. At the 2005 ceremony, he showed up in overalls and a straw hat, pitchfork in hand, and performed a comedic duet of the Green Acres theme with actress Megan Mullally, winning a lighthearted, audience-voted "Emmy Idol" contest.
For years afterward, Trump insisted publicly that his politics were the real reason he kept losing. The claim became a talking point during the 2016 presidential race, when Hillary Clinton brought it up during a debate as an example of his tendency to cry foul whenever things didn't go his way.
"Every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is is rigged against him," Clinton said at the time, pointing to his repeated complaints that the Emmys were fixed against The Apprentice.
The Television Academy pushed back publicly, standing by the fairness of its voting process. Trump, for his part, kept the grievance alive — after The Amazing Race won again in 2012, he posted that the Emmys had "no credibility," insisting The Apprentice "should have won many times over."
Trump Has Stayed Quiet — For Now
So far, Trump hasn't said a word about Bad Bunny's big night. But given his past comments, it's hard to imagine he's thrilled. Back in February, he blasted the halftime show as "un-American," calling it "an affront to the Greatness of America."
That reaction seemed to miss the point of what Bad Bunny was actually going for. Near the end of his set, he was joined onstage by a crowd waving flags from across the Americas — not just familiar nations, but places like Bonaire and the U.S. Virgin Islands too. Plena musicians, whose genre is deeply tied to Puerto Rican community and protest traditions, performed alongside him. At one point, he held up a football printed with the words "Together, we are America."
Rather than a narrow definition of the term, Bad Bunny used the moment to name country after country, building a case for "America" as something bigger — a shared, hemispheric identity rather than one nation's alone. Judging by Saturday night's Emmy wins, the Television Academy clearly saw the artistry in that message too.
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