There’s one artist who remained at the centre of the conversation for the entirety of the Grammys last night, and he wasn’t even contractually allowed to perform at the ceremony. His name is Bad Bunny, but most of us who like to think (or dream) that we know him better than that refer to him by his real name: Papi, I mean… Benito. Oops!

Benito was all over the telecast in Schiaparelli.

When you are the center of the conversation you are forced to endure an awkward skit or two, and those planned skits with Trevor Noah where he is “begging” him to perform were definitely awkward. One of these moments ended up in an impromptu semi-performance that made it very clear just how ready we all are for him to take the stage at the Benito Bowl on Sunday.

Benito took home three awards last night including Best Global Music Performance, Best Musica Urbana Album and the big one, Album of the Year, for his top-selling album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. Only nine of the 96 Grammy categories were televised and two of them were won by him so it’s clear that they knew who the main event of the night was. Each of his speeches was powerful for their own reasons. With the state of the USA right now and resistance against ICE, Benito took his first opportunity onstage during the broadcast to call them out for their current actions, opening with a strong and firm “ICE OUT” before saying “We are not savage, we are not animals, we are not aliens, we are humans and we are Americans.”.

Benito has made it a point throughout this entire album cycle to uplift the people of Puerto Rico and showcase the culture he is so madly in love with and proud of. As pointed out by my lovely colleague at ETALK, Esther, who is a proud member of the Benito stan club, he made sure to use direct words like “savage” and “alien, part of the current administration’s vocabulary as a way to diminish people. He made his time on that stage count and used his power and influence to spread a message that means something to so many people.

Benito’s big moment came courtesy of Harry Styles who presented the Album of the Year award to him in what many fans describe as a moment of redemption, after Benito lost the very same award to Harry back in 2023. Album of the Year is Grammy’s crown jewel and Benito gave his speech almost entirely in Spanish, even including a nod to the final track off the album where he thanks his mother for giving birth to him in Puerto Rico. From the recording booth to the Grammy stage, Benito has consistently given a platform to Puerto Rico in a time where it’s needed the most, always loyal to his community while still achieving higher heights with every creative endeavor.

Bad Bunny at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, February 1, 2026

Photo credits: ZUMAPRESS.com/MEGA/WENN, David Fisher/: John Salangsang/Shutterstock

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