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Stripper Pole-Themed Halftime Show Was A Weird Way To Highlight ‘Female Empowerment’

   DailyWire.com
Jennifer Lopez performs onstage during the Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida.
Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

The hype leading up to this year’s Super Bowl was all about women empowerment, from admirable soccer stars appearing in a Secret deodorant ad to San Francisco 49ers’ Katie Sowers being the first woman to coach in the NFL’s biggest game. As one USA Today column excitedly put it, “Watch and see how women are taking control of the Super Bowl.”

Apparently, women empowerment includes a scantily clad, vagina-touching 50-year-old woman performing a routine on a stripper pole for the entire nation to view (as her boyfriend cheers her on).

That’s what was on the ticket during Sunday’s halftime show, anyhow. Female performers Jeniffer Lopez, Jenny from the Block, Jlo, etc., and Shakira performed a mash-up of their songs for football fans, which, of course, includes women and children.

Shakira kicked-off the show with her famous hip work, but it was Lopez who made her look modest, starting out her set on a stripper pole, and at one time seemingly touching her vagina in a suggestive manner.

And make no mistake, the rump-shaking, stripper pole-themed performance was largely framed in the media as a nod to female empowerment. For example, as noted by Deadline, the stage was “shaped like the female Venus symbol.”

Moreover, the likes of CNN’s Jake Tapper re-tweeted a viral post of Lopez and Shakira celebrating one another after the performance.

“What nobody saw,” reads the caption of the video, adding a happy face, heart-themed emoji.

The subtext is rather obvious: Go, women! Go!

WATCH:

Of course, as highlighted online, the provocative nature of the halftime show was largely predictable. It was 16 years ago, for example, that singer Janet Jackson exposed her breast to viewers, with the help of fellow performer Justin Timberlake.

That doesn’t mean the performance wasn’t rightly criticized.

“Yes, the producers put on deliberately provocative, inappropriate material so they can draw social media fire and accolades,” noted Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro. “No, it’s not inappropriate to point out that women touching their crotches on national TV during a family show is inappropriate.”

“See that kids. Work hard and one day you too can grow up to strip at the SuperBowl,” joked comedian and podcast host Bridget Phetasy.

“My favorite part of the Super Bowl salute to women was the scantily clad woman twirling on a stripper pole,” posted National Review’s Kyle Smith.

“I get that I’m a puritan prude fundamentalist etc and so forth blah blah, but I still think I should be able to watch the game with my kids,” said The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh. “Including the half time show. This should be a family event.”

“Maybe the 50 year old women can strip on their own time, not during the game,” he added.

Pluto TV host Jesses Kelly noted that he was not at all shocked by the performance, though he found it humorous that it was tied to women’s empowerment.

“J-Lo and Shakira are pop stars,” said Kelly. “I knew what I was getting when I watched. I enjoyed the show cause I didn’t serve in the Air Force. My sons didn’t watch cause they were playing outside. And I didn’t need them going into puberty just yet.”

“And yes, I did laugh about all that ’empower women’ crap. Those two women have been empowering men’s shorts for twenty years. Don’t get rich and famous now and pretend you’re Susan B. Anthony. You are what you are.”

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