Many people watched Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s exciting Super Bowl 2020 halftime show that paid homage to Latino culture in early February — but some did not love what they saw.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received 1,312 complaints from viewers in regard to the halftime show, according to Texas television station WFAA.
The pair promised a joint performance that would have an empowering message and they lived up to their word, shimmying and shaking their way across the stage.
During the performance, Lopez descended from above the stage on a pole and both of the performers belly danced and twerked on stage.
Some complaints came from parents who felt their children were exposed to a “porno show” and others felt the show “encouraged sex trafficking.”
“Jennifer Lopez’s performance at the Super Bowl halftime show was extremely explicit and completely unacceptable for a event where families including children are watching,” a Utah viewer complained. “I had to send my children out of the room so that they weren’t exposed to something they should not have seen.”
“I was not prepared to explain to my 11 yo daughter why Jennifer Lopez was dressed so scantily or why she kept grabbing her crotch. My daughter was asking if she was feeling sick from having so much skin showing,” another viewer complained.
“What are you teaching young girls?” another viewer said. “Dance around half naked to make men excited then claim #MeToo for harassment? It’s ok to be some sexual being and shake your naked rear end and expose your crotch and dance on a pole in front of the world?”
“This is not appropriate family entertainment as the Super Bowl advertises. It was appalling! And then having young girls join the spectacle,” a viewer from Kentucky said. “No wonder there is sex trafficking when you call this family entertainment. And where’s the Me Too women? Do you not see the hypocrisy?”
Others that sent in complaints were upset because there were no public warnings given before the halftime show.
“The 2020 Super Bowl Half Time Show contained indecent, sexual and risqué content that was unsuitable for all viewers especially young viewers. The performers exposed areas of the lower buttocks, abdomen and cleavage,” a viewer from Illinois wrote. “This content was clearly obscene and should not have been broadcast. I believe FOX should be subject to regulatory penalties for broadcasting obscene content not suitable for public viewing.
A viewer from Utah wrote: “Wow! I am totally disturbed with the halftime show that was allowed to be shown throughout the country! Pole dancing, women wearing nearly nothing, crotch shots. Why oh why do we have to sexualize everything. So very disappointed in Fox, Pepsi and everyone involved in approving this halftime show. Totally inappropriate for network TV!”
“I am disgusted by the pornographic Super Bowl Halftime Show performed by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira on Feb. 2, 2020 on Fox,” a viewer from Colorado complained. “Such an unscrupulous, overt display encourages the sexual subjugation of young women while stimulating the sexual underworld and the sex trade. Please enforce some decency standards and protect our daughters from the normalization of objectification.”
According to WFAA, the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show with Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction received 540,000 complaints in the weeks following the performance compared to this year’s 1,312.
This year’s Super Bowl drew more than 100 million viewers on Fox and all of the streaming platforms, according to Nielsen.
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