Boy in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Is Not the 5-Year-Old Detained by ICE in Minneapolis

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A five-year-old boy who shared a poignant moment with global superstar Bad Bunny during Sunday’s Super Bowl 60 halftime show has been misidentified on social media as Liam Conejo Ramos, the Minnesota kindergartener recently taken into federal immigration custody.

The child who stood on the Levi’s Stadium stage is Lincoln Fox Ramadan, a Costa Mesa, California-based child actor whose Instagram profile lists him as also being five years old. After Bad Bunny performed his hit NUEVAYoL, the broadcast cut to a pre-taped segment showing Lincoln watching the Grammy Awards, where Bad Bunny had just accepted the album-of-the-year trophy. The artist then walked over and handed the boy what appeared to be the same Grammy, creating one of the night’s most-shared visuals.

“An emotional, unforgettable day being cast as the young Benito — a symbolic moment where the future hands the past a Grammy,” read a Monday post on Lincoln’s verified Instagram account. “A reminder that dreams come true and it's never too early to dream big.” Lincoln, who is half Egyptian and half Argentine, added that he is “sending love to Liam Ramos” and that “we all deserve peace and love in America, a country built by and home to so many hard-working immigrants.”

Columbia Heights Public Schools, where Liam Conejo Ramos is enrolled, moved quickly to dispel the online confusion. “(Superintendent Zena) Stenvik has indicated that the child is not Liam. Liam and his family are sequestered during this time,” district spokesperson Kristen Stuenkel said Monday.

Liam and his father, Ecuadorian native Adrian Conejo Arias, were detained by immigration officers in a Minneapolis suburb on Jan. 20 and transported to an ICE facility in Dilley, Texas. A judge’s order brought them back to Minneapolis on Feb. 1, but images of Liam in a blue bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack have continued to fuel national debate over immigration enforcement.

Lincoln’s previous credits include modeling campaigns for Walmart and Target. His last pre-Super Bowl post, on Jan. 31, teased: “I booked a cool gig! Can't wait to share it with you guys.” Representatives for Bad Bunny, who now holds six Grammys after his historic Spanish-language album-of-the-year win for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, did not respond to requests for comment on the mix-up.