A rumor circulating online in October 2025 claimed Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a three-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, declared he would boycott the 2026 Super Bowl if organizers allowed Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny to perform at the halftime show.
According to a popular post on the Sunday at Arrowhead Facebook page, Mahomes said he planned to join the conservative organization Turning Point USA to honor its slain co-founder, Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot Sept. 10, 2025. Mahomes allegedly added, "I'm an American — I'd rather be part of something All-American than the NFL's circus."
The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation previously announced Bad Bunny's headline role at the Super Bowl's halftime festivities Feb. 8, 2026, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Turning Point USA also announced what it dubbed as "The All American Halftime Show," with a flyer promising a celebration of "faith, family and freedom."
In short, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo and Google found no news media outlets, sports-centric or otherwise, confirming Mahomes made any negative remarks about Bad Bunny's upcoming Super Bowl halftime performance. Those searches also did not produce any results about Mahomes issuing public remarks saying he planned to forgo the NFL's halftime show and instead honor Kirk.
The person or people who primarily promoted the false claim — residing in Vietnam, according to Facebook-provided "page transparency" data — fabricated the tale as one of hundreds of stories depicting celebrities and athletes commenting on political hot topics. Those users posting the false claim aimed to earn advertising revenue from website articles linked in their Facebook posts, or in their posts' comments.
Snopes contacted the Sunday at Arrowhead Facebook page to learn more about the false claims appearing in its posts, including asking for details about the operation and inquiring about whether people from other countries finance the page's work. We also contacted the Chiefs front office to request official confirmation of the false rumor, as well as to ask whether the team would like to comment about the onslaught of false rumors about Mahomes originating from foreign-run Facebook pages. We will update this story if we receive further information.
A separate false claim circulating on other Facebook pages said Mahomes intended to boycott the Super Bowl regarding "Bad Bunny's LGBT image," including demanding "an American artist." Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny's birthplace, is a U.S. territory. The same fabricated rumor also falsely alleged Mahomes said, "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."
Mahomes didn't say that about Bad Bunny
On Oct. 11, a user managing the Sunday at Arrowhead Facebook page posted a meme featuring photos of Bad Bunny, Kirk and Mahomes, as well as the aforementioned alleged "I'm an American" Mahomes quote.
(Sunday at Arrowhead/Facebook)
The post, receiving nearly 400,000 total reactions, comments and shares, featured a text caption reading:
BREAKING: Patrick Mahomes caused a stir after declaring he would boycott the Super Bowl if organizers still let Bad Bunny perform at the halftime show. He said he would instead join Turning Point USA to honor Charlie Kirk, adding a pointed remark:
"I'm an American — I'd rather be part of something All-American than the NFL's circus."
His statement has sparked a wave of controversy, with fans flooding social media with mixed reactions.
The post's pinned comment displayed a link redirecting to an advertisement-filled article hosted on a WordPress blog. The article displayed signs someone generated its contents with an artificial-intelligence tool.
For example, the idea that users residing in Vietnam — people looking to profit from hundreds or thousands of fabricated stories — would spend hours manually writing a single professional-looking article did not square with reality. Also, the article — with its text presented in image form, potentially to prevent content theft from other users looking to earn advertising revenue from fictional articles — ends with a forward-thinking, sometimes questioning conclusion, much like the way AI tools tend to write the final sentences of AI-generated stories.
Users also shared this rumor on Facebook, Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), TikTok (archived) and X (archived).
Examining another fake Mahomes quote
Days earlier, on Oct. 3, a user managing the KC Loud & Proud Facebook page — also with page managers residing in Vietnam — posted a quote meme with images of Mahomes, a rainbow Pride flag and Bad Bunny kissing another person. The meme falsely claimed Mahomes said of Bad Bunny, "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." Other users shared similar posts.
(KC Loud & Proud/Facebook)
The post's text caption read:
NFL CRISIS ERUPTS: Fans Nationwide Call for BOYCOTT of Super Bowl Halftime Show Over Bad Bunny's LGBT Image — Demanding an 'American Artist' as Players Threaten to Quit and Patrick Mahomes Issues Explosive Attack on the League!
A link in the caption redirected to another ad-filled article that also featured a conclusion resembling those of AI-generated articles. The forward-thinking ending of the story read, "As the countdown to Super Bowl 2026 continues, the fallout only grows. Whether fans proceed with a boycott or players escalate their threats, the league faces one of its most volatile cultural storms in recent history."
For further reading, Snopes has previously reported on many other similarly untrue rumors about Mahomes.