Surprisingly, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s historic symbolic 2020 Super Bowl halftime performance was the product of a contentious NFL decision and heated debate. Halftime, which will premiere on Netflix on June 14, will depict the behind-the-scenes life of Latina worldwide sensation Jennifer Lopez and her career as a famous fashion icon, iconic actress, and awe-inspiring vocalist.
Fans of J.Lo, on the other hand, were not expecting to hear their favorite Colombian diva complain about her 2020 Super Bowl halftime performance, which she shared with Shakira. While the outstanding performance will be remembered for its Latina representation, the documentary featured a video of Jennifer Lopez and her staff being originally opposed to the concept of the two performing together.
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What did Jennifer Lopez and her management have to say about her Super Bowl appearance in 2020?
In a clip from her new Netflix documentary, which just had its worldwide debut on Wednesday, June 8, at the Tribeca Festival in New York City, the 52-year-old Hustlers actress is seen prepping for the Super Bowl halftime performance with her music director Kim Burse. Lopez adds, after a tense debate with Burse over the short 6-minute performance period,
“We just have six minutes. We have 30 seconds of a song, and if we take a minute, we’ll only have five seconds left. However, there must be certain songs that we sing. We must have singing times.”
She continued,
“It will not be a dancing f***ing revue. We must sing our message. Having two people do the Super Bowl is the worst idea ever. It was the absolute worst idea ever.”
Although Jennifer Lopez did not directly answer the subject of why she was forced to share the stage with Shakira, Lopez’s long-time manager, Benny Medina, did not hold back in expressing his discontent with the arrangement. In an interview with the documentary, Medina expressed his displeasure with the NFL’s notion of having two global superstars share a prominent performance slot, calling it an “insult.”
“A Super Bowl usually has one main attraction. That headliner creates a performance, and if they want to include additional guests, that is their discretion. It was an insult to claim that you required two Latinas to execute a task that had traditionally been done by one artist.”
Shakira and Jennifer Lopez spoke ahead of their historic performance.
During the first segment of the forthcoming documentary, the two Latina stars are shown talking on Zoom about the performance and the time each would take throughout the slot, striving to make the most of a less-than-ideal circumstance. During a conversation with J. Lo, the Waka Waka singer remarked,
“I know the Super Bowl producers want to include us in the broadcast. I haven’t received confirmation of how many minutes I’ll have.”
The former answered with,
“Let me quickly address it. They estimated 12 minutes. I received a solid assurance that we could have an additional minute or two, so we’re currently at 13, 14 minutes. Shakira, I believe you should have half the time and I should have the other half.”
Shakira is clearly not to blame, since the two artists can be seen working together and supporting each other throughout the film. Lopez, on the other hand, did not hold back while discussing the NFL.
Thank you @jlo for a night that shows how much Latinos have to offer! #SuperBowl #PepsiHalftime pic.twitter.com/Pe2kzFxUNR
— Shakira (@shakira) February 3, 2020
Jennifer Lopez also stated:
“They should’ve given us 20 (expletive) minutes if it was going to be a double header. That’s exactly what they should’ve done.”
