celeb news J.Lo & Shakira discuss Super Bowl Halftime Show preparations in Netflix Halftime doc

[insomniac]

Yesterday, J.Lo's Netflix documentary premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Amanda Micheli's film charts the megastar’s ascendance from the streets of the Bronx to the Super Bowl stage in Miami. It will start streaming next week, June 14, on Netflix and revealed some parts about the Super Bowl Halftime preparations.

 

Both Shakira and the NFL wanted to scrap the political statement made during Born In The U.S.A (timestamped in video below):

 

 

 

The "Born In The U.S.A." performance featured J.Lo's 11-year-old daughter Emme and other Latinx children singing from illuminated cages and singing the words "Let's Get Loud", while the lighting behind them appeared to reflect a wired fence. It was a political statement protesting the American government treatment of immigrants and Puerto Rico. The Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' immigration policy at the US-Mexico border wall has led to hundreds of children being separated from their parents; Jennifer was born in NYC to Puerto Rican parents

 

NFL also wanted to scrap that part according to Entertainment Weekly:

 

Benny Medina, J.Lo's manager: "The NFL had a real concern about making a political statement about immigration. They looked at the plans, and the message was absolute. They did not want those cages in the show. That had come down from the highest authority."

 

Lopez says she ultimately felt a responsibility to carry on with the show, which was ultimately hailed as a "frank and necessary political moment for a league that has been criticized for sorely lacking both," EW's Alex Suskind wrote at the time.

 

"For me, this isn't about politics. This is about human rights. I'm facing the biggest crossroads of my life, to be able to perform on the world's biggest stage, but to take out the cages and sacrifice what I believe in would be like never being there at all," she says. "There was a part of me that just got very zen and I was just like, 'Benny I don't care what you have to do, we're not changing the show. The Super Bowl is tomorrow and we're not changing anything.'"

 

She got her way, cause it ended up in the final show. Entertainment Weekly also shares the documentary touches on disappointment that both stars have to co-headline the SB HT show and have to share time. 

 

"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 says. "It was an insult to say you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done."

 

In comparison, prior performers like Lady Gaga and Madonna performed solo shows at the Super Bowl for about 14 minutes and 15 minutes, respectively.

 

Earlier in Halftime, Lopez is shown having a preliminary discussion with Shakira regarding the performance and how much time they will each take up during the set.

 

"I know that the Super Bowl people want us to be weaved throughout the show. I haven't had a confirmation about how many minutes I'm going to have," Shakira tells Lopez, who responds: "Let me address that really quick. They said 12 minutes. I got kind of a good confirmation that we could have an extra minute or two, so now we're at, like, 13, 14 minutes. I think, Shakira, what we should have is you should have half the time and I should [have half]."

 

"If it was going to be a double-headliner, they should have given us 20 minutes," Lopez finishes. "That's what they should've f---ing done." 

 

https://ew.com/movies/jennifer-lopez-halftime-documentary-nfl-double-headline-show-worst-idea/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by insomniac

[Bears01]

Good lord would that have looked awful. What in gods name was J. Lo thinking 

[IBeMe]

this attempt at smearing Shakira  I bet in the doc it will come across light hearted with Shakira just casually saying she aint born in the US and taking the song literal. Plus the context prob wasnt given yet. Shakira is known to be a huge advocate for refugees, migrants, minorities etc...

[Virgos Groove]

I mean, why would she be singing it when she was born... not in the USA?

[ninetiesceline]

As Shakira should. 

[Yudelkis]

I don't get it, but I can't wait to see the documentary. I'm very excited.

 

[insomniac]

3 minutes ago, Bears01 said:

Good lord would that have looked awful. What in gods name was J. Lo thinking 

Have you seen the show? Born In The U.S.A. eventually made it into the show for a quick statement. Shakira plays the drums during that part.

 

 

[Yudelkis]

@SavagePapi 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Yudelkis

[tiagol88]

I mean...Shakira is right. Her singing it would be weird...so they found a way for her to still be a part of it. 

[insomniac]

3 minutes ago, ATWK said:

I mean, why would she be singing it when she was born... not in the USA?

We don't know the context so I'm sure it's fine. They'll probably show the political statement behind it and she then agrees to perform the drums anyway.

[americanlife]

Good, it was cringy af.

[Yudelkis]

8 minutes ago, Bears01 said:

Good lord would that have looked awful. What in gods name was J. Lo thinking 

Shakira was playing drums during the Born In The USA part. You haven't seen the whole Superbowl performance I guess. 

[Weld_E]

12 minutes ago, insomniac said:

It was an insult to say you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done."

Jlo did not have the star power nor interest to headline the show alone, and the aftermath of Shakria stomping her on the charts proves that.

[Shelter]

That quote doesn’t sound good. I’ll wait to see it though 

[Rican]

This sounds like fan fiction 

[insomniac]

7 minutes ago, americanlife said:

Good, it was cringy af.

It's not cringy at all considering the political statement.

[Yudelkis]

 I’ll wait to see the documentary to get the full context..

[Mr. Blue_Shirt]

Please not the title change 

[insomniac]

11 minutes ago, tiagol88 said:

I mean...Shakira is right. Her singing it would be weird...so they found a way for her to still be a part of it. 

Yes, I agree.

 

Hopefully we get some other good behind the scenes moments with Shakira and Jennifer.

[P.O.P]

Quote

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 says. "It was an insult to say you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done."

They used to have dozens of stars at the Superbowl in the early 2000's, right?

 

The message was clear: celebrating Latin culture in Miami. Not celebrating J.lo's career.

[SavagePapi]

I actually think both of them are correct in feeling how they felt.

 

I think Shakira maybe took it a little out of context. J.Lo said before the show that the mesaage she wanted to showcase was that Latinos were here and we weren't going anywhere. I guess that's where they differ. J.Lo wanted to make a political statement given the way Trump was treating POC during his reign. Seems like Shakira wanted no parts, or maybe Jay-Z wouldn't allow her.

 

According to those who saw the doc, the NFL tried to remove the political portion of the show a day prior, and J.Lo still stuck to her guns otherwise she wouldn't perform. I'm glad she did that. That was huge on her part. That was the highlight of the entire show.

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by SavagePapi

[tiagol88]

10 minutes ago, P.O.P said:

They used to have dozens of stars at the Superbowl in the early 2000's, right?

 

The message was clear: celebrating Latin culture in Miami. Not celebrating J.lo's career.

Exactly.

That said, both of these women deserved a full Half time show for them. They have the hits for that. 

[Rican]

14 minutes ago, SavagePapi said:

J.Lo still stuck to her guns otherwise she wouldn't perform. 

 

The fan fiction 

[GeeDuval]

I mean they’re both right ! My girl wasn’t born here but she sure as hell became a global star here thanks to Gloria. Let’s not get carried away shaki. Lol can’t wait to see JLo’s response. LOLLLL

 

she looked flawless at tribeca premiere and glad she got her way. That halftime was just flawless from beginning to end. Both represented Latinos in and outside of the U.S.

 

 

[SavagePapi]

11 minutes ago, P.O.P said:

They used to have dozens of stars at the Superbowl in the early 2000's, right?

 

The message was clear: celebrating Latin culture in Miami. Not celebrating J.lo's career.

Right. And how many were Latino? I think we only had Gloria Estefan.

 

These women deserved their own show. J.Lo was not wrong in saying that if they were going to put two huge megastars together (WOC at that) then it should've been much longer. These women both have major hits that were reduced to a 6 min set for both of them. Kind of disrespectful if you ask me.

 

Granted, the show was still well done, that choice is still debatable. J.Lo is not wrong in expressing that. She was speaking for both of them btw not just herself.