Jennifer Lopez hopes Super Bowl halftime show will 'bring everybody together'

Despite the backlash that the Super Bowl halftime show has received in recent years, Jennifer Lopez is calling the opportunity to headline it “a dream come true” and is hoping that the show will bring people together.

The NFL has been at the center of political and racial tension after taking a stand against Colin Kaepernick over his taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality against people of color. And although that tension has led some performers, including Rihanna, to turn down the opportunity to perform on the league’s stage, Lopez and Shakira accepted the offer to headline the 2020 halftime show in February.

“It’s a dream come true,” Lopez told actor Robert Pattinson during a Variety interview. “I’m putting it together now. Me and Shakira together. We’re both excited to have been given the opportunity to do that, as two Latin women, in Miami.”

The 50-year-old singer and actress went onto say that this would be the first time she and Shakira are working together, although they’ve known each other for years. Lopez recalled that Shakira similarly called performing at the halftime show a dream. Together, the two women are hoping that it will also be viewed as a celebration for the Latin community.

“I think it’s important in this day and age for two Latin women to be standing on that stage — when Latinos are being treated a certain way in this country, or looked at a certain way — to show that we have a really specific and beautiful culture and worth and value, and we bring something to this country that’s necessary,” Lopez said, referring to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. “I think that’s going to be an amazing moment. That night, I want it to be a celebration of who we are. All of us, because we’re in this together.”

Lopez condemned Trump’s treatment of immigration families back in June 2018 with a tweet about the separation of children from their parents at the border. She followed it up with another that read, “I feel we will never forget this moment in time.”

Shakira also addressed Trump’s policies while discussing the Super Bowl performance during a November interview with The Guardian.

“I think it’s the right thing to do for the Latino community because we’ve also been through so much in Trump’s America, with walls being built and …” she told the British newspaper. “It’s an opportunity to celebrate our culture, you know?”

Now, Lopez has expressed that same hope in her Variety interview.

“I want to bring everybody together in that moment,” she said.

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