Fans Furious as MLB Pauses World Series for Surprise Jonas Brothers Performance

On October 26, 2025, Major League Baseball and Mastercard held a cancer fundraising drive during Game 2 of the World Series in Toronto. However, the event took an unexpected turn when the broadcast cut away from the game to feature a performance by the Jonas Brothers.

The interruption came as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays were tied 1-1 in the fifth inning. Traditionally, the Stand Up to Cancer segment involves fans holding up signs honoring loved ones affected by the disease. But just before the sixth inning began, the Fox broadcast shifted focus to the aging boy band for a brief musical number.

This decision was met with widespread backlash from baseball fans, who felt the Jonas Brothers' appearance was an inappropriate and unnecessary distraction from the important cancer fundraising efforts. Many took to social media to express their displeasure, with one fan writing, "Pausing the World Series for the Jonas Brothers...guys I think I can speak for 99% of those affected by cancer and say we don't need this."

Despite the brothers' own personal connection to cancer—their father was diagnosed with stage II colon cancer in 2017—the performance was widely criticized as an unwelcome intrusion into the game. As one fan aptly summarized, "Cancer vigil and a Jonas Brothers concert in the middle of a 1-1 world series game is actually insane."