Jennifer Lopez shared in her new Netflix documentary that she was banned from using the female gender symbol during her recent Super Bowl halftime performance because it wasn’t inclusive.
The 52-year-old pop singer shared a conversation she had with British director Hamish Hamilton about the logistics of her then-upcoming performance at Super Bowl 2022. Hamilton admitted his thoughts might be “contentious,” but given all the “identity politics” going on in the world, using the symbol that means woman wouldn’t be a good idea.
“We just want to get that woman symbol up at the front, I think,” Lopez explained in the documentary. “It’s got to be subtle. We have to be subtle with our message because people don’t want to be hit over the f***ing head with it.”
“I mean, I’m gonna be probably contentious now, but the only thing within it [the performance] that isn’t subtle – and actually is contentious, given everything that is going on with identity politics at this moment – is the female symbol,” Hamilton replied by phone.
“I think that that could be reviewed by some people as being actually exclusive,” he added. “I think also it seems to be a little bit on the nose and something that might have been done at the Super Bowl a while back.”
“It doesn’t seem to have the artistry…I understand the meaning behind it but I think that what you’re saying within the show is way more powerful than having that symbol out there,” Hamilton continued.
The “Hustlers” star seemed surprised by his comments and said she thought the part the director would have a problem with was that she wanted to include kids in “cages” on the stage of her halftime show as a message about immigration.
We got too emotional our Latinidad in this performance, we are overlooking @Shakira and @JLo political message: We still have kids in cages. Watch again. #HalftimeShow #SuperBowl, #HalftimeShow, #PepsiHalftime @julito77 @latinorebels #SuperBowlLIV @JulianCastro pic.twitter.com/Xf6uX5ferL
— Marlena Fitzpatrick García (@MarlenaFitz) February 3, 2020
In the film, Lopez’s longtime manager Benny Medina said the night before the game, the order came from “the highest authority” in the NFL to cut the cages bit.
“For me, this is not about politics, this is about human rights,” Lopez shared in the film.
In the end, the cages were part of the show but cut back and briefly shown during her performance.