Super Bowl or ‘Stripper Bowl’? Conservatives react to halftime show

Shakira and Jennifer Lopez acknowledge the crowd after performing their halftime show at Super Bowl 54 on Feb. 2, 2020, in Miami Gardens, Fla. | Gregory Payan, Associated Press

Families who watched the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers also saw a performance that some say was vulgar and exploitive. It’s not the first time.

SALT LAKE CITY — A 12-year-old ran onto the field at Hard Rock Stadium to open the Super Bowl, and Jennifer Lopez’s 11-year-old daughter was part of the halftime show.

But the performance by Lopez and pop singer Shakira was anything but family-friendly, many parents and faith leaders have said, and disparate reactions show the United States remains divided, not only over politics, but also over what constitutes appropriate prime-time entertainment.

“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 Rev. Franklin Graham wrote on Twitter and Facebook, adding that “This exhibition was Pepsi showing young girls that sexual exploitation of women is OK.”

Dubbed “Stripperbowl2020” on Twitter, the broadcast featured Lopez and Shakira in sexually suggestive poses and dances, wearing costumes that revealed much of the women’s buttocks. This was not entirely unexpected: Before the game, some sports betting companies had been accepting wagers about how much of her glutes Lopez would reveal. And Lopez is experienced at pole dancing, having played a strip-club dancer in the 2019 film, “Hustlers.”

That film, however, has an R rating, and even if they were interested in the subject matter, few adults would choose to see it with their children or grandmothers. “Why can’t the NFL present a halftime show that multiple generations can enjoy together?” Cari Keleman lamented on Twitter.

Although that wasn’t the only part of the performance that was controversial — at one point, a children’s ensemble was depicted in cages, seen as a political statement about President Donald Trump’s immigration policies — it was the pole dancing and simulated sex that sparked the most outrage. “Crotch-grabbing halftime strip show reminds world NFL is against objectification of women,” said one meme making the rounds on social media.

Many people, however, said they loved the show and its energy, and called it historic because both of the star performers were Latina.

Writing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, however, Stefan Stevenson noted that even people who said they enjoyed the show remarked on the hypersexual content.

Previous halftime shows have prompted similar outrage, most notably Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” in 2004 in which a portion of her breast was shown. The Federal Communications Commission received more than 200,000 complaints about that show, which then-FCC Chairman Michael Powell called a “classless, crass, deplorable stunt.”

The singer known as M.I.A., who performed with Madonna in 2012, extended her middle finger in that show, 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 when Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine removed his shirt during the halftime show in 2019, according to a report from WRDW, a television station in Augusta, Georgia, that examined Super Bowl-related complaints over the past five years (not all FCC complaints involved indecency; one person wrote to complain that the Super Bowl should not be on TV because controversy over the New England Patriots’ ball-deflating scandal makes the broadcast a fraud, Meredith Anderson of WRDW reported).

According to Darren Rovell, reporting for ESPN, Super Bowl performers sign contracts saying the show and costumes “must comply with the NFL’s standards.” What those standards are for what the NFL calls “pop culture’s biggest event” is unclear, although M.I.A.’s gesture crossed the line. The league sought to collect more than $16 million in fines; the matter was ultimately settled out of court and details were not made public.

As of Monday afternoon, the FCC had said nothing publicly about the number of complaints regarding the Feb. 2 show, nor had the NFL, which posted the 14-minute performance on its website.

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