Has your titi asked you about Coca-Cola’s ultimatum to the NFL to remove Bad Bunny from the Super Bowl halftime show? Well, tell auntie that isn’t right.
An Oct. 5 X post says Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey demanded the NFL pull Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny from the 2026 Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show, or risk the company’s important sponsorship.
“‘I will end my sponsorship of the Super Bowl if they let Bad Bunny perform at the Halftime – Coca Cola CEO James Quincey issues shocking ultimatum, NFL’S response stuns millions!,’” says the image in the post.
Other posts on Tiktok, Facebook and Instagram made similar claims about the supposed news; some of the posts showed disappointed users pouring bottles of Coca-Cola down the drain.
(Screenshot of X post.)
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These posts sharing fabricated news come after the Sept. 28 announcement that Bad Bunny will headline the Feb. 8 halftime show drew criticism from some Trump supporters and Republican officials. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio., told a journalist the NFL choice to pick a “second-rate musician” was political, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., touted her bill to make English the official language of the U.S. President Donald Trump called the decision “absolutely ridiculous” Oct. 6 on Newsmax.
The rapper also drew controversy in early September, when he said he didn’t include any U.S. stops on his concert tour for his latest album “I SHOULD TAKE MORE PHOTOS” for fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at his shows.
In July, Bad Bunny also criticized Trump immigration policies by featuring in his music video for “NUEVAYol” a voice that sounds like Trump’s saying, “I made a mistake, I want to apologize to the immigrants in America.”
None of the controversy makes headlines about Quincey’s “ultimatum” real.
A Coca-Cola spokesperson told PolitiFact that the claim is fabricated.
Coca-Cola doesn’t sponsor the Super Bowl.
Variety reported that Coca-Cola pulled back from the Super Bowl in 2019 after an 11-year sponsorship run. Apple Music is the 2026 halftime show sponsor. The show’s producer and director is from Roc Nationan entertainment company founded by Jay-Z.
There is no mention of Coca-Cola as a sponsor on the NFL players union website. Instead, Coca-Cola’s chief competitor, PepsiCo, is on the list. PepsiCo sponsored the Super Bowl halftime shows from 2013 to 2022 and is the NFL’s official drink sponsor.
Coca-Cola’s most recent Super Bowl ad was in 2020, according to websites that archived the ads.
PolitiFact reached out to the NFL for comment but did not receive a response.
The earliest versions of the claim that we could find link back to an Oct. 2 fictitious story on a website called News247. The article has many red flags: It has no byline, no attribution for the CEO’s quote, and includes esoteric word choices such as “ricocheted,” “explosive” and “parochialism,” which can be signs of text generated by artificial intelligence.
The Facebook account that posted the claim has shared multiple bogus claims, such as fake quotes from comedian Jimmy Kimmel and actor Johnny Depp about Bad Bunny’s upcoming performance.
We found more than 10 posts on Facebook alone sharing the claim, calling users to visit other fake websites with the same colors and layout that republished the same article from News247.
The Coca-Cola CEO didn’t give an ultimatum to the NFL about Bad Bunny and the company isn’t sponsoring the 2026 Super Bowl. We rate the claim Pants on Fire!
