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'Bitter, loud and wrong': Jennifer Lopez slammed for saying Shakira's belly dancing lacked 'substance'

'I’m trying to give you something with substance, not just us out there shaking our f**king asses and f**king belly dancing. I want something real,' said JLo in a Netflix documentary

Jennifer Lopez and Shakira's halftime show during the 2020 Super Bowl is one of the most iconic performances in history. The pop icons entertained the crowd in Hard Rock Stadium in Miami and were lauded for their chemistry on stage. Now, in a new Netflix documentary, JLo shed light on the behind-the-scenes of the duo's performance on the football field. She was of the opinion that having two headliners was the 'worst idea in the world'.

In the documentary called 'Halftime' released on June 14, the singer-actress said, "I’m proud of that person who’s kept it together all this time. I don’t think i could’ve done the Super Bowl 5 or 10 years ago… I wasn’t ready. I didn’t understand myself. I was finding myself."

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“There’s so much more I want to do. So much more I want to say. I’m not done. Not even close," Lopez continued. A few moments before JLo and Shakira FaceTimed each other before their performance, Lopez was heard saying, "The more we can know what each other’s thinking, the easier it’s going to be and the more at ease it’s going to be." Shakira told Lopez, "I know that the Super Bowl people want us to be weaved throughout the show." 

She was interrupted by JLo as she said, "I got kind of a good confirmation that we could have an extra minute or two so we’re at 13 or 14 minutes. I think, Shakira, we should have half the time." Before hanging up, Lopez said, "They should’ve given us 20 minutes if they wanted a double headliner. That’s what they should’ve f**king done!"

Lopez's manager Benny Medina said, "It was an insult to say that you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done."

"We’re here every day trying to make this work, and every day I turn around with somebody giving me some negative energy about, ‘Oh, we can’t have this! We can’t have that! It’s such a big stage, and it’s such an important show … and it’s been a nightmare since we started!," Lopez was heard saying later in the documentary. 

She said, "I’m trying to give you something with substance, not just us out there shaking our f**king asses and f**king belly dancing. I want something real. I want something that’s gonna make a statement, that’s gonna say we belong here and we have something to offer.” This statement by Lopez left social media users infuriated.

One user tweeted: "In new documentary, JLO compared bellydancing to just shaking the ass. She said this type of dance and what Shakira offered wasn’t culturally relevant enough to be shown on stage. This comes after she said she was not happy to share the stage with Shakira. Bitter, loud & wrong."

Another similar opinion was, "this is so disrespectful to my culture. my whole family is disappointed on jlo."

"Tell me what did shakira for Lebanon? Shakira is more proud to be latina and Colombian than being lebanese. She has visited Lebanon only one time in her whole life.. she is smart only took belly dancing cuz she knew its new for western culture and that made her famous," said another.

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