For the next several years, and maybe decades, Kansas City Chiefs fans will be boasting about the amazing Super Bowl LIV comeback win over the San Francisco 49ers. In turn, Niners fans will be pouting until they win The Big Game again. Don't worry Niners Nation, you could be Cowboys fans and have your Super Bowl drought reach 25 years and counting. Everyone else, well, will likely still be talking about the commercials, that Monday hangover, and the halftime performance.
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The Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show came and went without too much of a hiccup. Headliners Jennifer Lopez and Shakira rocked the Hard Rock Stadium stage in Miami with hit songs, shiny outfits and lots of dancing. There were no wardrobe malfunctions featuring Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake this year, but that didn't stop some people from filing formal complaints against the Latina pop superstars.
According to multiple outlets, including WFAA in Dallas and TMZ Sports, the Federal Communications Commission — better known as the FCC — received a grand total of 1,312 complaints in the hours after the February 2 broadcast on FOX.
Super Bowl Halftime Show Complaints
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
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Over 100 million people tuned in for the football game that Sunday night. More than that have re-watched the J-Lo and Shakira Super Bowl performance on YouTube after the fact. But, man, some people were just flat-out pissed off with what came across their television screens.
According to WFAA, complaints came from 49 different states. Vermont was the only one not to write a message to the FCC. Texas had the most at nearly 140 complaints.
If you thought social media was bad, just wait until you read some of these scathing messages.
"I do not subscribe to The Playboy Channel, we do not buy porn for $20 a flick, we simply wanted to sit down as a family and watch the Super Bowl. God forbid we expected to watch football and a quick concert but instead had our eyes molested."
"The halftime show last night was beyond inappropriate. Shakira laying on her side gyrating like sex, Lopez on a stripper pole, Lopez bending over to expose her butt crack, both performers grabbing their vaginas, Shakira grinding her butt against some tinfoil wearing man's penis. This was incredibly offensive. My children were watching."
"Strip clubs have that crap with sluts performing like this! This is soft porn! Fine the NFL or stop the HALFTIME shows! Beyond INAPPROPRIATE!!! Honoring a dog killer now THIS! BOYCOTTING THE NFL!!!"
"Completely inappropriate half time-show with simulated orgies, stripping, and borderline pornography. This is a family event during prime time and should never have happened."
"I applaud Shakira and Jennifer Lopez for being in amazing shape and having great voices, but that show was 100% about sex and NOT even remotely family friendly."
"As a father of 2 teen girls I feel obligated, at this point, to file a complaint as I am at my wits end. That "show" should have been reserved for late night cable TV ... As a society we are talking out of both sides of our mouths and confusing kids. We need to do better, much MUCH better. Please help put a stop this disgraceful type of behavior being pushed on our children."
Instead of complaining, one person even wrote in a suggestion for next year.
"No pole dancing, no nudity, no crotch grabbing, no indecent costumes. Just good music. Could be inspirational or uplifting or even patriotic."
This is obviously a rather small number of complaints compared to the hundreds of millions who watched, but it's still crazy to read some of these complaints.
Jennifer Lopez's Daughter Joins Halftime Show
The best part of this halftime show is J.Lo singing with her daughter Emme and Shakira ❤️ #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/epe0c2PJvW
— Alyssa Bailey (@alyssabailey) February 3, 2020
If Shakira's halftime performances "She Wolf," "Hips Don't Lie," and "Whenever, Wherever" or Jennifer Lopez's "Jenny From the Block," "Waiting for Tonight," and the "Mi gente/ Love Don't Cost a Thing" medley didn't set well, perhaps one moment did and was family family.
That's when Lopez's 11-year-old daughter Emme Maribel Muniz joined the stage to sing a "Born in the USA" medley before "Let's Get Loud" where she proudly wore the Puerto Rican flag.
J-Lo Opens Up About Super Bowl Halftime Show Turmoil in Netflix Documentary Halftime
In the years following the Super Bowl Halftime Show, Lopez's life would arrive at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, as the subject of an upcoming Netflix documentary that follows the singer from her 50th birthday to the 2020 Super Bowl. In the documentary Benny Medina, Lopez's manager calls out the NFL organizers' hypocrisy of having Shakir and his client share a stage, splitting singing moments.
The NFL had long been criticized for a lack of diversity in its Super Bowl halftime performers and so they brought in two of the biggest artists in Latin music and asked them to share the stage. That's a decision J.Lo's longtime manager Benny Medina called "an insult" especially considering the league had often had just one white headliner, including Maroon 5 and Bruno Mars in recent years.
"If it was gonna be a double headliner, they should've given us 20 (expletive) minutes," Lopez said to Shakira while discussing how to split their 12-minute time slot.
While frustratingly trying to determine a set list J-Lo vented her frustrations. "It was the worst idea in the world," Lopez said to her music director Kim Burse, "to have two people do the Super Bowl."
The NFL got the message as they brought The Weeknd to serenade Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021, but reverted to their group acts in 2022. The Sofi Stadium show at Super Bowl LVI was a hip-hop revue featuring Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, and others highlighting Los Angeles's contributions to the music industry.
No matter how you feel about Shakira and Lopez's performance, whether it was better or worse than previous acts like Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and Maroon 5, Alex Rodriguez sure enjoyed himself and that has to count for something.
