Criticism Over Jennifer Lopez's Super Bowl Show Has Moms Coming To Her Aid
It's only been one year since Maroon 5 gave their Super Bowl LIII halftime performance, which Pitchfork dubbed in February 2019 as "A game everyone lost." As a result, the bar certainly wasn't set too high for this year's Super Bowl LIV halftime show. But one thing was for sure: considering it would feature Shakira and Jennifer Lopez performing, the sensual style-factor would be at an all-time high.
While many applauded the two Latina pop stars for celebrating their culture and bringing the crowd together, there were haters that began trolling on social media, too. While the Twittersphere ran amok over Shakira's tongue, others began criticizing J.Lo for her "raunchy" choreography — especially since she was performing with her daughter, Emme Maribel Muñiz.
Of course, many stood behind Jenny from the block, too, with moms coming to her aid to defend the 50-year-old's choice in routine. As one viewer wrote (via Cafe Moms), "Let's celebrate women who at 50 & 43 are in great shape, smart, fierce & run their own show!" Perhaps it was The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg who said it best, quipping, "Get over it. This is not The Marriage of Figaro at La Scala. It's not Aretha Franklin at New Temple Missionary Baptist Church. It's 10 minutes of entertainment while you're waiting for your Totino's pizza rolls to crisp." Let's take a look at some of the criticisms that had mothers defending Jennifer Lopez.
The pole dancing debacle
Perhaps the biggest criticism of Jennifer Lopez's Super Bowl performance was her decision to show off her newfound appreciation for pole dancing — which she learned thanks to her role in 2019 flick, Hustlers. As one Twitter user wrote, "They have a halftime show degrading and objectifying women with pole dancing. A horrendous example to the millions of young women across the world."
However, as choreographers Tabitha and Napoleon Dumo explained to Buzzfeed News, that wasn't at all the message J.Lo was trying to make. Tabitha, who worked with the starlet on Hustlers, revealed, "Jennifer over the [filming] process learned, 'Wow, this is like a sport. You have to be an athlete and in such great shape to really do what this is. Now, obviously you can see it in one way because of obviously the places you can see this done, but it's evolved into such an art form. There was no grinding. Break the stereotype!"
There's definitely no denying that Lopez's portion of the routine featured incredible physical strength. As Valerie Williams of Yahoo! Finance so succinctly put it next to a GIF of the two Latinas shimmying their way on stage, "And sorry, not sorry, if our a**es looked like this, we'd be hopping out the car at school pick-up to perform this exact move every damn day."
Jennifer Lopez decided to get political
When Jennifer Lopez was still in the planning stages of her Super Bowl performance, she had one thing on her mind: she wanted to make a statement. "This is the biggest stage in the world," Lopez's choreographer, Tabitha Dumo told Buzzfeed News. "I think every little girl looks at the Super Bowl their whole life and dreams of touching that stage and performing, so we wanted it to really count and mean something ... A voice as a woman, as a Latino, as a mom."
Sure enough, J.Lo's portion of the halftime show did carry heavy symbolism, especially when her daughter, Emme Maribel Muñiz, took the stage with her. While Muñiz came out singing "Let's Get Loud" from a cage along with other children, Lopez wore a feathered coat "designed to look like the Puerto Rican flag." As all eyes were suddenly looking at the flag, Muñiz started singing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."
As Dumo told Buzzfeed News about her and Jenny from the block's decision to incorporate such a powerful message, "I think it started, from a musical standpoint, having 'Born in the USA' in there for a little moment and it just was a natural evolution ... I think we were just celebrating all that is beautiful about this country — Puerto Rico being part of this country. It was more or less about love. It really comes from a base of love and happiness to be a Latino in America."
Is there a double standard with J.Lo's halftime performance?
When Fox News posted to their Twitter account that the Super Bowl LIV was "the 10th most-watched Super Bowl in history," one thing was for certain — there were definitely some haters out of the 102 million that tuned in.
One Twitter user clapped back at the hate, referencing Adam Levine of Maroon 5's shirtless performance the year prior, and writing, "Man walks around shirtless flaunting his sexuality & women go WILD! Women cover their lady parts but highlight their curves & exude sexuality and they're shameful, a disgrace for children, should act appropriate for their age. Double standard much?"
Meanwhile, Southern Charm star and mom-of-one Cameran Eubanks also joined in the fray (via People). She posted a meme on her Instagram page featuring a photo of Lopez sitting in an airplane, which was captioned, "JLo flying home on her private jet not giving a flying flip what Nancy from Nebraska thinks of her halftime performance at the Super Bowl."
In the end, what Jennifer Lopez deemed most important was the message she set out to deliver with her daughter as they both took the stage. "All I want my girls, the little girls on stage with me and all over the world to know is how to use their voices and be proud of everything they are," she wrote on Instagram a day after the event. "We are proud to recognize that all of us together are what makes this beautiful country truly great."