Did Bad Bunny burn the flag? Fact-checking AI image going viral of Super Bowl halftime show originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Bad Bunny halftime show at Super Bowl 60 made plenty of headlines before, during and after his show. The performance, which was for the most part entirely in Spanish, is expected to be one of the most-watched halftime show performances in Super Bowl history.
But the decision of the NFL to choose Bad Bunny was met with plenty of backlash. In fact, Turning Point USA put on an alternate halftime show, although the viewership numbers appear to be hundreds of millions less than Bad Bunny’s performance.
People online were more outraged when an AI-generated image of Bad Bunny appearing to burn the American flag went viral.
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Did Bad Bunny burn the American flag?
No, Bad Bunny did not burn the American flag. Here is the photo that has been making the rounds on X, which has been AI-edited:
As X’s community note points out, the original image appeared on a site that publishes satire. It goes on to say the original image contained a SynthID watermark, indicating it had been generated using artificial intelligence.
Bad Bunny was seen during his show carrying the Puerto Rican flag towards the end of his performance:
Bad Bunny was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and wrapped his 30-date Puerto Rican-exclusive 2025 concert residency at San Juan’s Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot earlier this year.
Although the numbers are not official yet, early estimates put Bad Bunny’s halftime show viewership as higher than Kendrick Lamar in 2025, which was a Super Bowl record.
Bad Bunny’s show also gave the artist a spike in Apple Music, increasing his listens seven times, with “DtMF,” “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” and “Tití Me Preguntó” being the most streamed songs immediately after the show. Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show press conference leading up to the performance was the most-watched in Super Bowl history, per Apple.
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