J.LO REALY PUTTIN' ON THE BLITZ
Ticked in Super doc at sharing with Shakira
WHEN Jennifer Lopez had to share the Super Bowl halftime stage co-headlining with Shakira in 2020, some — myself included — wondered why Jenny needed anybody else on her block.
Although the two Latina divas played nice and hugged it out at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, it turns out Lopez wasn’t “Feelin’ So Good” about having to squeeze in one typical headliner’s show in half the time.
The 52-year old Bronx-born icon vents her frustration about it during “Halftime,” the J.Lo documentary that opened the Tribeca Film Festival Wednesday night at the United Palace Theater before it premieres on Netflix June 14.
“This was the worst idea in the world,” says a pissed-off Lopez in the doc, who is seen fighting with the NFL for more time to do her set justice.
While Lopez doesn’t come right out and say why she had to split her stage time with Shakira, J.Lo's longtime manager Benny Medina doesn’t mince words about the diss.
“It was an insult to think that you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done,” he says.
And while Lopez is seen on Zoom with Shakira trying to make the best of a not-so-super situation — “We can bring everybody together in this moment,” she says — the friction didn’t exactly make for the friendliest of rehearsals. They’re cordial and professional at best, but let’s just say Shakira shouldn’t be expecting an invitation to Bennifer 2.0’s wedding.
But who can blame La Lopez?
This was her moment, and she deserved to own it herself.
“This is something I have been working for and hoping for for years,” she says.
“Halftime” also reveals that Lopez fought with the NFL over using children in cages to send a political message about former President Donald Trump putting migrant children into detention camps.
“The NFL had a real concern about making a statement about immigration,” says Medina.
But after the NFL asked Lopez to remove the cages the day before the Super Bowl, she didn’t back down. “We’re not changing the show,” she told officials.
About half of “Halftime” is about the Super Bowl, taking you behind the scenes of rehearsals.
The Super Bowl is also positioned as the big, ultimate win for Lopez after she lost out on an Oscar nomination for “Hustlers.” And the star is open about her disappointment for her and her team after getting the hype — and her hopes — up on the awards-season campaign trail.
But the doc glosses over other areas of Lopez’s career and personal life. There’s hardly anything about Lopez’s relationships with her famous flames here — although fiancé Ben Affleck briefly appears to weigh in on his lady having to deal with disrespect in the business as a Latina.
And Lopez herself knows about that all too well. At the beginning of the documentary, she says, “My whole life I have battled and battled to be heard, to be seen, to be taken seriously.”