Jennifer Lopez says co-headlining Super Bowl halftime was ‘worst idea in the world’
Jennifer Lopez was not happy that the NFL made her and Shakira co-headliners at the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show, according to footage from her upcoming Netflix documentary.
The “Waiting for Tonight” singer debuted “Halftime” at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on Thursday, and a scene in the doc, which reflects on her multi-hyphenate career, shows her agitated by the limited amount of time each superstar was allotted for the widely broadcast performance.
“We have six f— minutes,” Lopez, 52, tells music director Kim Burse, according to Entertainment Weekly. “We have 30 seconds of a song, and if we take a minute, that’s it, we’ve got five left. But, there’s got to be certain songs that we sing, though. We have to have our singing moments. It’s not going to be a dance f— revue. We have to sing our message.”
Lopez then says it was “the worst idea in the world to have two people do the Super Bowl.”
Jennifer Lopez thanks those who lied to her and broke her heart Sunday while accepting the Generation Award at the MTV Movie & TV Awards.
Sharing Lopez’s sentiments, her longtime manager, Benny Medina, also appears in the documentary to take aim at the NFL.
“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 a scene with “She Wolf” singer Shakira earlier in the documentary, the two singers try to map out the show. Lopez suggests that they each get half of the 12 minutes allotted — with the ability to tack on “an extra minute or two” — rather than weaving together their performances as the organizers originally intended.
“If it was going to be a double headliner, they should have given us 20 minutes,” Lopez says in the doc. “That’s what they should’ve f— done.”
Latin stars Jennifer Lopez and Shakira played a whirlwind of hip-shaking hits at Super Bowl 2020 halftime show
Their triumphant Super Bowl LIV show ran for about 14 minutes. And while it wasn’t without controversy, Times music critic Mikael Wood praised the historic performance for fusing “old-school razzle-dazzle with an of-the-moment sense of Latin American pride.”
Halftime shows typically run between 12 to 15 minutes, but some have gone longer. Madonna had 15 minutes to perform in 2012 and included a number of guest stars. In her headlining outing, Beyoncé — who was briefly joined by Destiny’s Child during her 2013 set — took about 13 minutes. Coldplay, joined by special guests Beyoncé and Bruno Mars, finished its gig in just over 13 minutes the following year, and solo acts Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga got nearly 14 minutes during their separate stints.
This year’s show, starring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar, was nearly 14 minutes long.
“Halftime” begins streaming Tuesday on Netflix.
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
