Patrick Mahomes Did Not Threaten Super Bowl Boycott Over Bad Bunny Performance

False Rumors Circulate About Patrick Mahomes Boycotting Super Bowl Over Bad Bunny Performance

Recent claims that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes plans to boycott the 2026 Super Bowl over Bad Bunny’s halftime performance have been debunked as completely fabricated. The viral rumor began spreading across social media platforms in October 2025, generating hundreds of thousands of interactions despite having no factual basis.

According to the false narrative, Mahomes allegedly declared he would skip the championship game if organizers allowed the Puerto Rican rapper to perform. The fabricated statement claimed Mahomes would instead join conservative organization Turning Point USA to honor its co-founder Charlie Kirk, who was reportedly killed in September 2025.

“I’m an American — I’d rather be part of something All-American than the NFL’s circus,” read the fictional quote attributed to the three-time Super Bowl MVP.

The NFL, Apple Music, and Roc Nation had previously announced Bad Bunny as the headline performer for the February 8, 2026 Super Bowl halftime show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Meanwhile, Turning Point USA announced plans for what it dubbed “The All American Halftime Show,” promoting it as a celebration of “faith, family and freedom.”

Extensive searches across major search engines revealed no credible news outlets reporting any such statements from Mahomes. Sports media, which typically covers NFL player controversies extensively, has not published anything substantiating these claims.

Investigation into the source of the misinformation revealed that the Facebook page “Sunday at Arrowhead,” which initially promoted the false claim, is operated by individuals based in Vietnam according to Facebook’s transparency data. This page appears to be part of a network creating fabricated celebrity statements on political topics to generate advertising revenue through linked articles.

A similar fabricated rumor circulating on other Facebook pages falsely claimed Mahomes intended to boycott over “Bad Bunny’s LGBT image” and demanded “an American artist” — despite Puerto Rico being a U.S. territory. This version included another fictional, inflammatory quote: “That man makes me sick. I can’t believe the league would even consider him. He’s nothing but a dog, and it’s disgraceful.”

The posts typically follow a pattern of including eye-catching images, provocative false quotes, and links to ad-laden websites featuring content likely generated by artificial intelligence tools. The articles showed telltale signs of AI generation, including formulaic conclusions that present forward-looking statements typical of machine-written content.

These fabricated stories about Mahomes have spread widely across multiple social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter), demonstrating how quickly misinformation can proliferate across digital ecosystems.

This incident highlights a growing trend of foreign-operated social media accounts creating inflammatory, false narratives about American celebrities and athletes to capitalize on political and cultural divisions for profit. The practice exploits algorithm-driven engagement on social platforms, where controversial or divisive content often generates higher interaction rates.

Snopes, which investigated and debunked these claims, reported attempting to contact both the Facebook page spreading the misinformation and the Chiefs organization for comment, but had not received responses at the time of publication.

This is not the first instance of fabricated quotes being attributed to Mahomes, as similar false rumors about the quarterback have been debunked previously, indicating a pattern of targeted misinformation campaigns involving the high-profile athlete.