The Creative Arts Emmy Awards, held in Los Angeles as a curtain-raiser to the main televised gala on 14 September, made Bad Bunny one of the standout figures of the night. The Puerto Rican artist walked away with seven awards thanks to his halftime show at Super Bowl LX.
The production, presented under the official title “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”, went into this year’s Emmys with a notable achievement already under its belt. Last July it became the musical production in this format with the highest number of nominations, nine in total, since the awards were created. This surpassed the record held by Lady Gaga since 2017.
The Television Academy has now recognised the technical ambition and creativity of the Latin show with seven statuettes. Among them are Best Music Direction, for Brazilian Miguel Gandelman, and Best Choreography for Variety Programming, for choreographers Charm La’Donna and Karina Ortiz. The show also collected awards for technical direction, lighting design, sound mixing and direction for a special programme.
Bad Bunny’s presence at this edition has not been limited to the sporting and musical arenas. His work as a host has also been recognised, as the episode of “Saturday Night Live” he fronted at the end of 2025 has won the Emmy for Best Makeup in the category for variety, non-fiction or reality programmes.
It has been a record-breaking year for Bad Bunny, who has already received a 2026 Grammy and a 2026 Latin Grammy, helping to put Spanish-language music among the most listened-to and most awarded in the world. His run of success appears to be continuing with these 7 Emmy awards.
A continental message to millions of viewers
The singer used the biggest showcase on US television to assert the idea of America as a whole continent, rather than as a synonym exclusively for the United States.
The show culminated with a commemorative football bearing the slogan “Together we’re America” (in Spanish: ‘Juntos somos América’), accompanied by a parade of the flags and names of all the countries in the region, from Canada to Chile.
The nominations for this edition were announced by Puerto Rico-born actress Liza Colón-Zayas, known for her role in the series “The Bear”, alongside comedian Jeff Hiller. The 2026 Emmy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday 14 September at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
The other winners on the first night of the Creative Arts Emmys
Bad Bunny’s triumph was not an isolated case on the first night of the Creative Arts Emmys. His Super Bowl show became the most decorated programme of the evening, with seven statuettes, ahead of productions such as “The Traitors”, which took six, and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”, with five.
Stephen Colbert’s programme, which ended an eleven-year run in May, won the Emmy for Best Picture Editing for Variety Programming for an episode featuring Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello, as well as the award for Best Lighting Design for a Series for another instalment with Bruce Springsteen as guest.
The Muppet Show on Disney+ picked up four awards and won in the category of Best Pre-Recorded Variety Special ahead of Taylor Swift, whose tour farewell “Taylor Swift, The Eras Tour, The Final Show” was also competing in that field. Sabrina Carpenter, who appeared in the Muppets special as an executive producer and performer, thereby won her first Primetime Emmy.
Other standout awards on the day included Best Documentary or Non-Fiction Series for “Mr. Scorsese”, the Apple TV production about filmmaker Martin Scorsese, and Best Sound Mixing for a Non-Fiction Programme for “Billy Joel, And So It Goes” on HBO Max. The “Blink Again” segment of the Netflix series “Sean Combs, The Reckoning” won the prize for Best Picture Editing for a Non-Fiction Programme.
In the music categories, Miguel Gandelman won in the category of Best Music Direction for Bad Bunny’s show and became the third person to take that prize for a Super Bowl halftime performance, after Adam Blackstone in 2022 and Kendrick Lamar together with Tony Russell last year. Tyler Strickland, for his part, won Best Music Composition for a documentary, non-fiction or reality programme for his work on “John Candy, I Like Me”. Both thus secured their first Primetime Emmy.
Director Hamish Hamilton once again took home the award for Best Direction for a Variety Special, this time for Bad Bunny’s show. It is the third time he has won it in the past four years, after victories in 2023 for Rihanna’s halftime show, co-directed with Jay-Z, and in 2024 for his work on the Oscars ceremony.
Actress and director Mariska Hargitay won two awards as producer and director of “My Mom Jayne, A Film by Mariska Hargitay”, a documentary about her mother, actress Jayne Mansfield. Hargitay will also host the 78th Emmy Awards, which will be broadcast live on NBC on Monday 14 September from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with a simultaneous broadcast on Peacock.
This was the outcome from the 49 categories presented on Saturday. A further 53 will be handed out this Sunday, on the second night of the Creative Arts Emmys. Of all these, only 19 will be included in the television broadcast of the main gala on 14 September. Highlights from both Creative Arts ceremonies will air on Saturday 12 September at 20:00 (Pacific Time) on FXX and will be available on Hulu from the following day.