Miami Herald

‘Their moment’: Gloria Estefan weighs in on alleged Shakira-JLo ‘Halftime’ controvers­y

- BY MADELEINE MARR mmarr@miamiheral­d.com Madeleine Marr: madeleinem­arr

Gloria Estefan has seen her share of Super Bowls.

Two, to be exact. And those were enough for the Miami Sound Machine icon.

Estefan performed at Super Bowl in 1992 (Washington Redskins vs Buffalo Bills in Minneapoli­s) and again in 1999 (Atlanta

Falcons vs. Denver Broncos in the Magic City).

The Conga Queen was also asked to partake in the halftime show for Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium.

Back in 2019, when organizers first approached Estefan for the job, she turned them down.

The “Father of the Bride” star told ET at the time: “That’s a high stress thing. I’ve been blessed to have already done it twice. It’s good.”

Shakira and Jennifer Lopez famously ended up sharing the stage in Miami Gardens that night for the big game that saw the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers.

In the new Netflix documentar­y, “Halftime,” JLo is seen complainin­g about having to co-headline with Shakira, as she believed there wasn’t enough time in such a short show.

Sharing a stage with the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer was “the worst idea in the world,” said Lopez, who came under fire for that and other comments, which many say were taken out of context.

During Saturday night’s episode of “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen,” Estefan weighed in on the controvers­y.

The music icon agreed with Lopez that time was tight, but ultimately thought the dual performanc­e came out great.

“You have like 12 minutes or something to get things on and off the set,” she told Cohen. “So could you do it with one person? Yes, but I think they wanted to throw a Miami and Latin extravagan­za. They tried to pack in as much as possible, and they killed it.”

Estefan is ultimately relieved she didn’t end up participat­ing and feels OK with her decision.

The Star Island resident emphasized she has no regrets.

“It was their moment,” she said, adding, “And I didn’t want to go on a diet in December. It’s Christmas! It’s true!”

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Gloria Estefan

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