Jennifer Lopez receives backlash after saying Super Bowl performance with Shakira was 'the worst idea in the world'
Jennifer Lopez has caught flak over comments she made in her new documentary Halftime about her iconic 2020 Super Bowl halftime performance with fellow Latina star Shakira.
The film mainly gave a behind-the-scenes look at J.Lo and her team’s creative process. At one point, Lopez shared her frustration with music director Kim Burse saying over the performance.
“We have six f–king minutes. We have 30 seconds of a song, and if we take a minute, that’s it, we’ve got five left. But, there’s got to be certain songs that we sing, though. We have to have our singing moments. It’s not going to be a dance f–king revue. We have to sing our message. This is the worst idea in the world to have two people do the Super Bowl. It was the worst idea in the world,” she said.
“If it was going to be a double-headliner, they should have given us 20 minutes. That’s what they should’ve f–king done,” she added.
In one of the scenes, the On the Floor singer highlighted that she wants to deliver a performance with a lot of significance saying, “I’m trying to give you something with substance, not just us out there shaking our fucking asses and fucking belly dancing.”
“I want something real. I want something that’s gonna make a statement, that’s gonna say we belong here and we have something to offer.”
Some viewers have also noticed this might have been a jab at Shakira since she is well known for her belly dancing moves.
Some online called Lopez's remarks as "Bitter, loud & wrong.”
In new documentary, JLO compared bellydancing to just shaking the ass. She said this type of dance and what Shakira offered wasn’t culturally relevant enough to be shown on stage.
— Cautionriah (@ProceedWithShak) June 14, 2022
This comes after she said she was not happy to share the stage with Shakira. Bitter, loud & wrong. pic.twitter.com/utQkalP6x9
One, meanwhile, called the remarks as "tone-deaf."
Drag👏🏽that👏🏽ass👏🏽!!!! Imagine being this tone deaf. It’s one thing to be self deprecating, but you don’t get to throw another culture under the table in the process. All this backlash is well deserved. On a side note, we love how Shakira was trending but this wasn’t her docu 😭 pic.twitter.com/0Uf6oZL5uI
— Songbird Supreme🦋 (@OhItsMimiBitch) June 15, 2022
Some, however, said the statements were taken out of context, and that Lopez was not putting down Shakira.
“Jlo is quite literally praising Shakira in her #Halftime doc, saying they both deserved 12/13 minutes and not to have to share that usual time slot for one act. People get mad about anything,” one commented on Twitter.
Jlo is quite literally praising Shakira in her #Halftime doc, saying they both deserved 12/13 minutes and not to have to share that usual time slot for one act. People get mad about anything
— Jack (@JackSlaterrrr) June 14, 2022
Another Twitter user said that Lopez "wasn't complaining about sharing with Shakira, rather she wanted to make a great show and was collaborative.”
Watching #Halftime and the early excerpts really did JLo dirty. She wasn't complaining about sharing with Shakira, rather she wanted to make a great show and was collaborative. But that's not a good enough headline🤷🏽♀️
— SabinaNoRisOld (@SabinaNoRxp) June 15, 2022
“She didn't not want to perform the halftime with Shakira, she only felt that the need for having two latinas to perform when usually they have only one artist headlining the performance was unfair. Her statement was really taken outta context,” another user said.
I just watched jlo's documentary. She didn't not want to perform the halftime with shakira, she only felt that the need for having two latinas to perform when usually they have only one artist headlining the performance was unfair. Her statement was really taken outta context.
— alia (@sitcomstan) June 14, 2022
Shakira has not yet reacted to Lopez’s remarks and to fan tweets about the matter.
