Bad Bunny Wins First Primetime Emmy for 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show: Updated

Bad Bunny won his first Primetime Emmy on Saturday (Sept. 5) – night one of what were formerly known as the Creative Arts Emmys, which were held at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. The Puerto Rican superstar won outstanding variety special (live) for The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny (NBC). He won as both the lead performer and a producer.

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It’s just the second Super Bowl Halftime Show to win the top program Emmy. The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show Starring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent won four years ago. Shawn Carter (Jay-Z), Desiree Perez and Jesse Collins won as executive producers of both shows. Dave Meyers won as co-executive producer of both shows.

The other nominees in the category this year were 83rd Annual Golden Globes (CBS), 68th Annual Grammy Awards (CBS), The Oscars (ABC) and 78th Annual Tony Awards (CBS).

The award comes seven months after Bunny became the first artist to win album of the year at the Grammy Awards for a Spanish-language album. He won for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.

The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny won seven awards, easily becoming the most-awarded Super Bowl halftime show in Emmy history, surpassing the aforementioned 2022 hip-hop show, which won three. It is also the first Spanish-language program to win outstanding variety special (live).

Bunny’s Halftime Show also won outstanding music direction; outstanding directing for a variety special; outstanding sound mixing for a variety series or special; outstanding choreography for variety or reality programming; outstanding lighting design/lighting direction for a special; and outstanding technical direction and camerawork for a special.

A second program starring Bunny won a Primetime Emmy: The Season 51 opener of Saturday Night Live that he hosted won outstanding makeup for a variety, nonfiction or reality program.

Another pop megastar, Taylor Swift, was nominated for outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show (Disney+), but lost to another Disney + program, The Muppet Show.  The show, which paid tribute to the beloved series, also featured top talent, including Sabrina Carpenter (who won her first Primetime Emmy as an executive producer and performer on the special), Maya Rudolph and Seth Rogen. The other nominees in the category were Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable… (Netflix), Nikki Glaser: Good Girl (Hulu) and Wicked: One Wonderful Night (NBC).

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The Late Show With Stephen Colbert won five awards, two for episodes that featured rock royalty by name in the episode descriptions. The series, which concluded an 11-year run in May, won outstanding picture editing for variety programming (segment) for an episode that featured Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello and outstanding lighting design/lighting direction for a series for an episode that featured Bruce Springsteen and special surprise guests.

Billy Joel: And So It Goes (HBO Max • HBO) won outstanding sound mixing for a nonfiction program.

The “Blink Again” segment of Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix) won outstanding picture editing for a nonfiction program.

Mr. Scorsese, the Apple TV program about film director Martin Scorsese, won outstanding documentary or nonfiction series.

Hamish Hamilton won for outstanding directing for a variety special for the third time in the past four years. He won this year for his work on Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime show. He won in that category in 2023 for co-directing (with Jay-Z) the Super Bowl Halftime Show starring Rihanna and in 2024 for directing the Oscars.

On Sunday, night two of the Primetime Emmys, Julie Andrews won outstanding character voice-over performance for the second year in a row for her role as Lady Whistledown in Netflix’s Bridgerton. Andrews, who turns 91 next month (Oct. 1), becomes the oldest woman to win a Primetime Emmy, narrowly edging out her long-time friend and co-star Carol Burnett, who was a few months away from turning 91 in January 2024 when she won her most recent Primetime Emmy for Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love, on which Andrews appeared. The NBC program won outstanding variety special (pre-recorded).

Prior to these back-to-back wins for Bridgerton, Andrews had won two other Primetime Emmys – outstanding variety musical series in 1973 as the star of ABC’s The Julie Andrews Hour and outstanding nonfiction series in 2005 as host of PBS’ Broadway: The American Musical.

Andrews headlined two Broadway cast albums (My Fair Lady and Camelot) and two film soundtracks (Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music) that reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

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Rob Reiner, who was tragically killed in December, won outstanding guest actor in a comedy series for his role as Albert on The Bear. It was his third Primetime Emmy, following a pair of wins in 1974 and 1978 for All in the Family, the biggest TV hit of the 1970s.

Comedy Central’s South Park won outstanding animated program for the sixth time. Executive producers Trey Parker and Matt Stone were among the recipients. Parker and Stone were inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in August.

Also on Sunday, the Television Academy presented its first-ever Legacy Award. The first honoree, fittingly, was I Love Lucy — the CBS series that virtually created the blueprint for sitcoms. The landmark show starring Lucille Ball and executive produced by her husband Desi Arnaz will mark its 75th anniversary next month. It debuted on Oct. 15, 1951.

A total of 49 categories were presented on Saturday. A total of 53 categories were presented on Sunday. Just 19 categories will be presented on the live Emmy telecast, set for Monday Sept. 14.

The two pre-telecast awards ceremonies are not telecast or streamed but highlights from the two ceremonies will air on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m. PT on FXX. The program will be available to stream on Hulu starting the next day.

Mariska Hargitay won two awards on Saturday for producing and directing My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay, about her mother, 1960s sex symbol Jayne Mansfield. Hargitay is set to host the 78th Emmy Awards telecast, which will air live coast-to-coast on NBC on Monday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live. It will also stream on Peacock.

Here’s a complete list of programs that won multiple awards across the two nights of the pre-telecast Emmy Awards.

Here’s a complete list of individuals that won multiple awards across the two nights of the pre-telecast Emmy Awards. Their names are followed by the number of awards they won and the classifications in which they won.