Jennifer Lopez Says It Was the ‘Worst Idea’ to Share Super Bowl Stage With Shakira

• In her Netflix documentary “Halftime” Jennifer Lopez said that sharing the halftime show with Shakira was “the worst idea in the world.”
• “If it was going to be a double-headliner, they should have given us 20 minutes,” she told Shakira.
• Representatives for the NFL didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Jennifer Lopez didn’t hold back her feelings about sharing the 2020 Super Bowl halftime stage with fellow Latinx pop star Shakira in her new

Netflix

documentary “Halftime,” which premiered at the Tribeca Festival on Wednesday night. 

In a scene 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. 

“We have six fucking minutes,” Lopez said in the film according to Entertainment Weekly, noting that it gave her very little time to sing a good portion of any song, though she had some hits she had to include in the show. “We have to have our singing moments. 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. It was the worst idea in the world,” the “Love Don’t Cost A Thing” singer continued. 

In another scene in the film, Lopez’s longtime manager Benny Medina supported his client’s feelings. 

“Typically, you have one headliner at a Super Bowl. That headliner constructs a show, and, should they choose to have other guests, that’s their choice,” Medina said, per Entertainment Weekly. “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. 

In early scenes of “Halftime,” Lopez and Shakira are shown in the early stages of planning their performance. Lopez said that unnamed parties at the NFL told her they’d have about 12 minutes to perform all together, but that the length could likely be increased by a minute or two.

The 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show ran for about 14 minutes total, 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 said.

Representatives for the NFL didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. 

Some viewers were also not happy about the 2020 halftime show for a different reason

As reported by CNN, there was controversy in the aftermath of the performance, too. According to the network, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received 1,312 complaints after the performance from people saying the show was “inappropriate, especially for children.”

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

Lopez has continuously addressed the struggles she has faced throughout her career as an actor, dancer, and Latinx pop star. 

In an interview published in February, she told Rolling Stone, “I think I’m an underdog. 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 “Hustlers” star was honored with a Generation Award at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards on Sunday. During her speech, she acknowledged the people who have 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 for teaching me to be strong and my children for teaching me to love,” the “Selena” actor continued. 

“Halftime” is available to stream on Netflix June 14.