There are triumphs so singular that they demand no embellishment, and so it was on Saturday night, the fifth of September, when Bad Bunny stood beneath the lights of the Peacock Theater at Los Angeles and received his first Primetime Emmy. The occasion was the opening night of what were once styled the Creative Emmys.
The prize was no trifling one: the award for variety special, live, for The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny, broadcast upon NBC. He was crowned both as the performer at the heart of the spectacle and as one of its producers.
A Second Triumph of Its Kind
Never before has a Halftime special claimed this particular distinction save once, four years past, when the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show Starring Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent, among other performers of high fame, won the same honor. That earlier company of names and this new one share certain guiding hands.
Shawn Carter, known also as Jay-Z, together with Desiree Perez and Jesse Collins, served as executive producers of both, while Dave Meyers again lent his hand as fellow producer. The rival nominees this season were formidable indeed — the 83rd Annual Golden Globes upon CBS, the 68th Annual Grammy Awards likewise upon CBS, The Oscars upon ABC, and the 78th Annual Tony Awards upon CBS — yet none could prevail against the Puerto Rican performer’s offering.
This victory arrives but seven months after Bunny won another distinction of note: the first artist ever to carry off album of the year at the Grammy Awards for a work sung wholly in the Spanish tongue, his DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. Taken together, the two honors form a portrait of an artist whose fortune shows no sign of dimming.
Seven Statues and a Record Broken
The Halftime Show did not content itself with a single trophy but gathered seven in all, rendering it the most rewarded Super Bowl Halftime special in the whole history of the Emmys, surpassing by a wide margin the three won by the 2022 special of song and verse. It stands, moreover, as the first Spanish-language special ever to be named the finest variety special, live — a distinction of no small weight.
Beyond this crowning prize, the production was honored for the finest music direction, the finest directing for a variety special, and the finest sound mixing for a variety series or special. It was honored further still for the finest dance arrangement for variety or reality offerings, the finest lighting design and lighting direction for a special, and the finest technical direction and camera labor for a special.
A second vessel bearing Bunny’s name likewise carried home an Emmy: the Season 51 premiere of Saturday Night Live, which he presided over, was crowned for the finest paint and dressing in a variety, invented, or reality offering.
Other Contenders, Other Fortunes
Taylor Swift, that other reigning sovereign of popular song, had been put forward for the finest variety special, recorded in advance, for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show upon Disney+, yet fortune favored a rival offering from the very same house — The Muppet Show tribute, which triumphed instead.
That special, honoring the beloved company of figures from old times, gathered its own company of talent, among them Sabrina Carpenter, who claimed her first Primetime Emmy as both producer and performer, together with Maya Rudolph and Seth Rogen. The remaining nominees in that competition were Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable… upon Netflix, Nikki Glaser: Good Girl upon Hulu, and Wicked: One Wonderful Night upon NBC.
Elsewhere, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which brought its long and remarkable run to a close in May, was not forgotten by the Academy, claiming five awards of its own. Two of these honored episodes graced by the presence of rock’s own greatness — one recalling Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello, another Bruce Springsteen.
A Fitting Close
What rises from this night of honors is a singular truth: that spectacle, when joined to design of genius and lofty ambition, may yet triumph even over the most venerable institutions of praise. Bad Bunny’s seven trophies do not merely rest as tokens upon a stand — they set anew what a Halftime Show may dare to become.