SALT LAKE CITY — Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez called the Super Bowl halftime show empowering for girls. More than 1,300 viewers deemed it burlesque.
That’s according to the Federal Communications Commission, which says it has received 1,312 complaints about the performance at the Feb. 2 Super Bowl in Miami, in which Lopez and fellow performer Shakira sang, shimmied and shook in costumes that revealed more skin than they covered.
The first Super Bowl halftime show to feature two Latina performers was hailed by many as empowering and groundbreaking. But on Twitter, it quickly was dubbed the Stripperbowl.
Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from WFAA, a television station in Dallas, Texas, the FCC released the complaints, which came from 49 states, WFAA reported. (Only Vermont didn’t weigh in.)
The complainants called the show “disgraceful” and “pornographic” and “inappropriate” for prime time. It aired between 8 and 8:30 p.m., when many families watch. They were disturbed by the dancing, the costumes and the song lyrics. One person from Texas described the show as “people in lingerie doing pole dances” and says the performance reflected poorly on the country. A viewer in Layton, Utah, suggested the Super Bowl have marching bands at halftime, like college games do.
“Do we really need to tell the performers that kids watch this game? Set some wardrobe and entertainment standards. I shouldn’t feel like I’ve been thrust into an adult club while waiting for the game to resume. If you can’t manage to rein in the superstars, maybe we should just go back to marching bands performing for halftime. The indecency is getting ridiculous,” the Layton viewer wrote.
“This was club dancing, not a show for a family watched sporting event,” wrote a viewer from Atlanta, Georgia. A parent from Clearwater, Florida, wrote, “You have allowed the extreme objectivity of women as sexual eye candy for your male football viewers into my living room while watching with my adolescent daughters.”
And a viewer from White Pine, Tennessee, asked, “Why does it seem that families have to deal with this problem almost every year and nothing seems to be done?”
The FCC received more than 200,000 complaints about the 2004 halftime show, known for Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction,” which then-FCC Chairman Michael Powell called a “classless, crass, deplorable stunt.”
In 2012, the singer known as M.I.A., performing at halftime with with Madonna, extended her middle finger, prompting an apology from the NFL that read in part, “The obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing and we apologize to our fans.”
The FCC also fielded complaints after the 2019 show in which Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine removed his shirt and performed revealing his heavily tattooed torso.
This year’s performance drew a rebuke on Twitter and Facebook from the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, who wrote, “I don’t expect the world to act like the church, but our country has had a sense of moral decency on prime-time TV in order to protect children. We see that disappearing before our eyes.”
The day after the performance, Lopez wrote on Instagram, next to a photo of her holding her 11-year-old daughter, who also performed in the show, “All I want my girls, the little girls on stage with me and all over the world to know is how to use their voices and be proud of everything they are. We are proud to recognize that all of us together are what makes this beautiful country truly great.”
According to WFAA, 102 million people viewed the Super Bowl on Fox and its platforms. “The halftime show complaints received by the FCC represent one one-thousandth of a percent of all viewers,” the station reported.
It’s been nearly two months since the show, but if you still want to register your opinion, you can download a complaint form on the FCC website or do it online.