WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Bad Bunny really wanted to see Carlos Correa play for Puerto Rico at home in the World Baseball Classic.
Correa, the infielder for the Houston Astros left off the WBC roster over insurance coverage, said Friday that the music superstar and fellow native of Puerto Rico had offered to pay for a policy.
“It means a lot that he’s that involved,” Correa told reporters at the Astros' spring training complex. “He tried to do everything possible. I wanted to play and make sure that I was going to go out there and play for Team Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico. The fact that he did that means a lot in how much he cares for the country, how much he cares for the fans back home. I’m deeply grateful that he tried that hard.”
Correa, who has a $200 million contract through 2028, had surgery in 2014 to repair a broken right tibia and both San Francisco and the Mets failed to approve his physicals for a contract during the 2022-23 offseason.
While not providing the name of the provider Bad Bunny proposed, Correa said it was one that was not approved by Major League Baseball, the Astros and Correa’s agent, Scott Boras. A person familiar with the process said MLB was not contacted about the possibility of Bad Bunny arranging an insurer. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no public statements were made.
“I could not sign my life away with something that three people that I trust are telling me not to do,” Correa said.
Puerto Rico is hosting pool play games in the WBC next month.
Bad Bunny, who was born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is one of the most-streamed artists on the planet. He was the featured halftime performaer at the Super Bowl last Sunday, a week after winning album of the year at the 2026 Grammys for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos", which is the first time an all Spanish-language album took the top prize.
Bad Bunny's sports representation firm, Rimas Sports, and the MLB Players Association settled a lawsuit last year after the union disciplined the agency over violations of its agent regulations. It revoked the agent certification of Rimas’ William Arroyo and denied certifications of executives Noah Assad and Jonathan Miranda, citing citing a $200,000 interest-free loan and a $19,500 gift. The union issued a $400,000 fine for misconduct. Arbitrator Ruth M. Moscovitch upheld the union’s five-year suspensions of Assad and Miranda and cut Arroyo’s suspension to three years.
AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report from New York.
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Bad Bunny performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former CNN host turned independent journalist Don Lemon pleaded not guilty to federal civil rights charges Friday, following a protest at a Minnesota church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor. Four others also pleaded not guilty in the case.
Lemon insists he was at the Cities Church in St. Paul to chronicle the Jan. 18 protest but was not a participant. The veteran journalist vowed to fight what he called “baseless charges” and protect his free speech rights.
“For more than 30 years, I’ve been a journalist, and the power and protection of the First Amendment has been the underpinning of my work. The First Amendment, the freedom of the press, are the bedrock of our democracy,” Lemon said outside the courthouse after his arraignment. “And like all of you here in Minnesota, the great people of Minnesota, I will not be intimidated, I will not back down.”
Dozens of supporters gathered outside the courthouse, chanting “Pam Bondi has got to go” and “Protect the press.”
Civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong was among the other defendants who pleaded not guilty Friday. The prominent local activist was the subject of a doctored photo posted on official White House social media that falsely showed her crying during her arrest. The picture is part of a deluge of AI-altered imagery that has circulated since the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
Levy Armstrong echoed Lemon's defiant words after the hearing.
“We the people have to stand for our rights. We have to stand for the Constitution. We have to stand for our First Amendment rights to freedom of the speech, some freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press,” she said.
“Today we have the federal government trying to weaponize the Department of Justice in order to silence us, in order to prevent us from speaking the truth," Levy Armstrong said. "They are trying to prevent us from calling out a manifest injustice.”
Protesters interrupted a service at the Southern Baptist church last month, chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
In total, nine people have been charged under the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in relation to the church protest. The FACE Act prohibits interference or intimidation of “any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”
Two more defendants accused in the protest are scheduled for arraignment next week, including another independent journalist, Georgia Fort.
Penalties can range up to a year in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Renee Carlson, an attorney with True North Legal, which is representing Cities Church, said in a statement that by pleading not guilty Lemon and others are “doubling down on their claim that the press can do whatever they want under the auspices of journalism.”
“The First Amendment does not protect premeditated schemes to violate the sanctity of a sanctuary, disrupt worship services, or intimidate children,” Carlson said. “There is no ‘press pass’ to trespass on church property or conspire to invade religious worship.”
The church protest drew sharp complaints from conservative religious and political leaders. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned in a social media post at the time: “President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship.” Even clergy who oppose the administration's immigration enforcement tactics expressed discomfort.
Another of Lemon's attorneys who was in court Friday is Joe Thompson, one of several former prosecutors who have left the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office in recent weeks citing frustration with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown in the state and the Justice Department’s response to the killing of Good and Pretti.
Thompson had led the sprawling investigation of major public program fraud cases for the prosecutors office until he resigned last month. The Trump administration has cited the fraud cases, in which most defendants have come from the state’s large Somali community, as justification for its immigration crackdown.
Associated Press journalists Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.
Journalist Don Lemon, right, speaks to the media outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
Journalist Don Lemon speaks to the media outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
Nekima Levy Armstrong, left, speaks to the media alongside Chauntyll Allen, right, outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
People gather outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., in support of journalist Don Lemon and Nekima Levy Armstrong ahead of their hearing Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
People gather outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., in support of journalist Don Lemon and Nekima Levy Armstrong ahead of their hearing Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
Nekima Levy Armstrong, center, speaks outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
Nekima Levy Armstrong, center, speaks outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
Nekima Levy Armstrong, center, speaks outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
Journalist Don Lemon enters the courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
Don Lemon arrives at the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
FILE - Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson speaks to reporters at a news conference July 15, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP, File)
Journalist Don Lemon, talks to the media after a hearing at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Journalist Don Lemon, waves to the media after a hearing outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
