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Jennifer Lopez says it was 'the worst idea in the world' for her to share the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show with Shakira

Jennifer Lopez says it was 'the worst idea in the world' for her to share the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show with Shakira

"It was an insult to say you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done," Jennifer Lopez's manager said in "Halftime."

Jennifer Lopez apparently didn't hold back her feelings about sharing the 2020 Super Bowl halftime stage with her fellow Latina pop star Shakira.

In a scene in her new Netflix documentary, "Halftime," in which she was planning her half of the performance with her music director Kim Burse, Lopez said it was "the worst idea in the world" to have two people share the headlining spot of the halftime show, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. The film premiered at the Tribeca Festival on Wednesday night.

"We have six fucking minutes," Lopez said in the film, according to Entertainment Weekly, noting that it gave her little time to sing a good portion of any one song. "We have to have our singing moments," she said. "It's not going to be a dance fucking revue. We have to sing our message."

"This is the worst idea in the world to have two people do the Super Bowl," the "Love Don't Cost a Thing" singer continued. "It was the worst idea in the world."

Shakira and Lopez at a press conference on January 30, 2020, ahead of their Super Bowl performance.


In another scene in the film, Lopez's longtime manager Benny Medina was said to have supported his client's feelings.

"Typically, you have one headliner at a Super Bowl," Medina said, per Entertainment Weekly. "That headliner constructs a show, and, should they choose to have other guests, that's their choice. It was an insult to say you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done."

Entertainment Weekly noted that when performers like Madonna and Lady Gaga headlined the Super Bowl in 2012 and 2017 respectively, they were each given over 13 minutes to perform solo.

Shakira and Lopez during the halftime show.


In early scenes of "Halftime," Lopez and Shakira are shown in the early stages of planning their performance. Lopez reportedly told Shakira that unnamed NFL sources told her they'd have about 12 minutes combined to perform but would probably get a minute or two more than that.

The 2020 Super Bowl halftime show ran for about 14 minutes, giving Lopez and Shakira about seven minutes each to perform a selection of their biggest hits.

"If it was going to be a double headliner, they should have given us 20 minutes," Lopez told Shakira.

Representatives for the NFL didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Some viewers were unhappy about the 2020 halftime show for a different reason
Lopez accepting the MTV Generation Award at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards.


As reported by CNN, there was controversy in the aftermath of the performance, too. According to the network, the Federal Communications Commission received 1,312 complaints after the performance, with many people saying the show was inappropriate for children.

Some of the complaints noted that Lopez was dressed "scantily," and some viewers took issue with the fact the "Jenny From the Block" singer danced on a pole during her portion of the show, CNN reported.

Lopez, who played a stripper in the 2019 film "Hustlers," has previously described facing struggles throughout her career as an actor, dancer, and pop star.

"I think I'm an underdog," she told Rolling Stone in an interview published in February. "I always feel like I was scrapping from the bottom. Always.

"I always felt like I wasn't the one that was supposed to be in the room," the mother of two continued.

The Netflix documentary "Halftime" follows Lopez's career.


Lopez was honored with a Generation Award at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards on Sunday. During her speech, she acknowledged the people she said had made her road to success more difficult.

"Since you cannot create truth unless you've really lived it, I have a different kind of list of 'thank-yous' tonight," Lopez said. "I want to thank all the people who gave me this life. I want to thank the people who gave me joy and the ones who broke my heart, the ones who were true, and the ones who lied to me. I want to thank true love, and I want to thank the way that I lied to myself because that's how I knew that I had to grow."

"I want to thank disappointment and failure," she continued, "for teaching me to be strong and my children for teaching me to love."

"Halftime" is set to be available for streaming on Netflix on June 14.

Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.

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