Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Just Won an Emmy

The halftime show for Super Bowl LIV that featured Jennifer Lopez and Shakira was a big hit as social media couldn’t stop talking about it. In fact, the show was so good, it is now an Emmy-Award winner. Last week, the Creative Arts Emmy Awards took place virtually, and the Super Bowl Halftime Show won for Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Show. Overall, the show earned four Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Music Direction and Outstanding Variety Special (Live).

“I don’t want to give away too many [secrets] of what we’re going to do in the performance,” Lopez said during Super Bowl week when talking about what to expect from the show. “The truth is, I think when we finished the first run-through, Shakira looked at me. She was like, ‘That was amazing!’ And I was like, ‘No, you were amazing!’ She was like, ‘It’s different what we do.’” Lopez also said the show has “a lot of energy, it’s very entertaining. There’s heartfelt moments. I think we run the gamut. It’s packed with a lot of… awesome moments. I don’t want to say too much, because I want everybody to be surprised, obviously!”

When Lopez heard the show earned four Emmy nominations, she went to Twitter to show her appreciation and also shared a clip from her and Shakira’s performance. But as well-received the show was, there were some who thought it was too much for broadcast TV. Dave Daubenmire, a right-wing activist, was threatening to sue the NFL because the show didn’t go with his religious beliefs.

“I think we ought to sue,” he said on his podcast, Pass the Salt. “Would that halftime show, would that have been rated PG? Were there any warnings that your 12-year-old son — whose hormones are just starting to operate — was there any warning that what he was going to see might cause him to get sexually excited?”

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Lopez and Shakira do another Super Bowl halftime show down the road. According to Variety, the 15-minute performance drew 103 million total views on Fox, which is a 4% increase from last year’s performance where Maroon-5 was the headliner. However, the show didn’t do as well as the 2018 show that featured Justin Timberlake, which drew 106.6 million total viewers.