Bad Bunny wins his first Emmy for Super Bowl halftime show
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- Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show has earned him his first Emmy for variety special (live); the show won seven awards overall.
- Mariska Hargitay’s intimate documentary “My Mom Jayne” also triumphed, winning for documentary special and directing as she prepares to host the Primetime Emmy Awards.
It’s been a remarkable year for Bad Bunny, one of pop music’s biggest stars. After winning multiple trophies earlier this year at the Grammys, including album of the year for “Débi Tirar Más Fotos,” he can add another accolade: Emmy winner.
The Puerto Rican rapper and singer, also known as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, won his first Emmy for variety special (live) on Saturday for his historic Super Bowl halftime show. It was the first Spanish-language halftime show, a 13-minute spectacle that transformed a football field into a variety of scenes including a sugar cane field, bodega, wedding party and casita, like the one in his 2025 San Juan residency. It also featured performances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Mikael Wood, The Times’ pop music critic, called it “a busy and colorful performance that drew lines between the traditional folk forms of his native island and the throbbing reggaeton beats that have made him an icon to young people around the globe.”
For the record:
3:57 p.m. Sept. 9, 2026An earlier version of this article stated that “My Mom Jayne” won an Emmy for cinematography. It was nominated, but did not win.
Bad Bunny served as a producer on the show. It won seven Emmys overall, including for directing for a variety special and music direction.
Bad Bunny had a clear vision for his historic Super Bowl halftime show and only two months to bring it to life, said the creative team behind the performance.
Also honored at Saturday’s ceremony was Mariska Hargitay for her documentary “My Mom Jayne,” about her mother Jayne Mansfield, a Hollywood actor who died in a car accident when Hargitay was 3 years old. Hargitay also received an Emmy for directing the film. The movie, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, had a limited theatrical run before being released on HBO in June 2025. Hargitay won an Emmy in 2006 for lead actress in a drama for playing Det. Olivia Benson in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
In an interview with The Times last year, Hargitay said, “Making this film has been so extraordinary to me and totally reframed the narrative for me,” about Mansfield and the struggles she encountered over her brief but celebrated career. The film also revealed that Hargitay’s biological father was Nelson Sardelli, a former entertainer, and not Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised her and Mansfield’s second husband.
Mariska Hargitay will host the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 14 in Los Angeles.
The “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” actor created an emotional and revealing documentary about her mother, Jayne Mansfield, who died when Hargitay was just 3 years old.
The first pair of Emmy ceremonies, formerly called the Creative Arts Emmys, are held over two nights, two weekends before the Primetime Emmy Awards, and honor many of the behind-the-scenes workers and craftspeople in television. An abridged version of the ceremonies will be broadcast Sept. 12 on FXX and stream on Hulu the following day.
Here is a list of winners from Saturday’s ceremony:
Variety special (live)
“The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”
Variety special (pre-recorded)
“The Muppet Show”
Documentary or nonfiction series
“Mr. Scorsese”
Documentary or nonfiction special
“My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay”
Unstructured reality program
“Love on the Spectrum”
Structured reality program
“Antiques Roadshow”
Host for a reality or reality competition program
Alan Cumming, “The Traitors”
Game show
“Jeopardy!”
Game show host
Jimmy Kimmel, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
The complete list of winners for Saturday’s ceremony can be found at televisionacademy.com.
