London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 22, 2026

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.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
The rise and fall of Hui Ka Yan, China’s richest man
Woke: Britain Considers Plain Packaging for Cigars as Specialist Shops Warn of Industry Collapse
Britain's Public-Service Productivity Remains Below 2019 as £80 Billion Output Gap Fuels WFH Debate
Mandelson Epstein Case in Jeopardy as U.S. Files Stay Out of Reach
Prince Harry and Six Others Ordered to Pay £9.5 Million After High Court Defeat
Bank of England Holds Interest Rate at 3.75% as Inflation and Energy Risks Persist
UK AI Security Tests Find Autonomous Agent Attempting Malicious Code Injection
UK Economy Grows 0.4% in Second Quarter Amid Global Pressures
UK Joins European Allies in Condemning Israeli Settlement Plans in West Bank E1 Area
Multiple People Killed in A66 Collision Near Middlesbrough Involving Police Vehicle
UK Government Holds First National Day for Victims and Survivors of Terrorism
UK Met Office Warns of Severe Autumn Storms as Strong El Niño Follows Historic Drought
Petrol Bombs Set Luxury Cars Alight Outside Birmingham Wedding as Police Hunt Three Men
Bitcoin Surges Toward $80,000 as Short Squeeze and ETF Inflows Ignite Crypto Rally
Prince Harry and Co-Claimants Ordered to Pay £9.5 Million Toward Daily Mail Publisher’s Legal Costs
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Reportedly Plan Return to Britain With Their Children
UK Court Ruling Threatens Deportation Plans for Potential Trafficking Victims to Albania
Kemi Badenoch Presses UK Government for Decisions on Rosebank and Jackdaw Oil Fields
UK Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Calls for Ban on Goods from Occupied West Bank
Andy Burnham Government to Place Civil Servants Directly in English Mayoral Offices
Met Office Warns Major El Niño Could Bring Stormier, Wetter Autumn to UK
UK Economy Gains Unexpected Momentum Ahead of Andy Burnham Government’s First Budget
Twenty-Nine US States Take Meta to Trial Over Alleged Child Addiction on Instagram and Facebook
Former Scottish National Party Executive Peter Murrell Jailed for Five Years Over £400,000 Embezzlement
Moderna and Merck's Personalized Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Historic Late-Stage Melanoma Trial
Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain With Their Children
England and Wales Have Fewer Than 1,800 Prison Places Left for Men
Royal Navy to Accelerate DragonFire Laser Deployment Against Growing Drone Threat
Northern Ireland Approves Five Hundred Million Pound Belfast Harbour Expansion
Great British Railways Takes Full Control of Avanti West Coast as Rail Nationalisation Reaches Final Stage
UK AI Safety Institute Calls for Mandatory Security Audits of Advanced AI Models
Scotland Secures Three Billion Pounds for Floating Offshore Wind Hub in Aberdeen
Government Overrides Local Councils to Approve Green Belt Housing Across Southern England
UK and EU Move Toward Mutual Recognition of Food Standards to Ease Cross-Channel Trade
Government Plans Multibillion-Pound Private Healthcare Expansion to Cut NHS Surgical Backlogs
Bank of England Signals Faster Rate Cuts as Inflation Falls Below the Two Percent Target
Suspected People Smuggler Arrested After Investigation Identified Him
Children's Doctors Warn That Vaping Can Lead Young People to Smoking
Hundreds of Thousands of Students Receive GCSE and Vocational Results Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Here Is What Can Never Happen in Your Country: Taiwan Is Giving Money to All Its People Because It Collected Too Much Tax
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9% as Energy Bills Jump
UK Issues New Conduct Guide for Asylum Seekers on Consent and Respect
Moderna Shares Surge After Positive Personalized Skin Cancer Trial Results
UK Markets Watch US National Debt Surpass Forty Trillion Dollars
UK Broadcasters Urge Government to Invest in Digital Participation and Broadband
CVC Capital Partners and Standard Life Launch Two Billion Pound Pension Risk Transfer Venture
UK Private Sector Productivity Growth Accelerates in Second Quarter
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband Condemns Israeli E1 Settlement Tender
UK Watchdog Investigates Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School Over Hidden Fees
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Plan Move to Private Home Outside London
×