Why Did Everyone Start Hating Jennifer Lopez?

The magnitude of Jennifer Lopez's fame eludes Gen Z's understanding. Lopez dominated music charts and screens for the longest time with hits like "Love Don't Cost a Thing" and "Waiting for Tonight," and blockbusters like Selena and The Wedding Planner. She was a fashion icon and a trendsetter. Not every red carpet look has its own Wikipedia page, but Lopez's green Versace silk chiffon dress from the 2000 Grammy Awards does.

You can thank her for Google's specialized image search engine (no, seriously). Lopez's iconic 'fit sparked a huge surge in online searches, which inspired the creation of Google Images one year later.

Before the era of influencers and social media, Jenny was the it girl. "Every Latino mom wanted to be J.Lo," wrote a user on Reddit on a thread about her reign in the early 2000s.

"She was like 1989 Taylor huge. She was the tabloid obsession. You had to have an opinion about her," @RosaPalms added.

J.Lo is still on our screens today, but her name doesn't exactly evoke widespread support like it used to. The top searches for TikTok show that Gen Z does not love Lopez the same way millennials or Gen X did, with keywords like "Jennifer Lopez rude, Met Gala cringe, Ben Affleck fight," and "controversy" populating the results. Her recent film, This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, has been hilariously described as "corny AF. Corny and silly and chaotic and so cheesily on-the-nose, self-indulgent and hilarious," by LaineyGossip.

Even her new movie with Netflix, Atlas, has a 2.9 out of 5 rating on RottenTomatoes, a "rotten flop," as mainstream media has called it. But why is Lopez now getting tomatoes after decades of flowers? Let's see what the audience has to say about it.

Jennifer Lopez Is Apparently a “Mean Girl”

Lots of people on social media have come forward about Lopez's alleged diva antics. @redpeppaflake on TikTok said the "I'm Real" singer has strict rules for her drivers: They can't speak or look at her, and her luggage can never touch the ground – and if they fail to abide by her rules, they get fired.

"Even if you have to look in the rearview mirror while you're driving, she will call that you trying to look at her and proceed to berate you. And I know this because my dad worked for that driving company, and he refused to drive her whenever she came in town because of how awful she treated the drivers," she explained.

Another X/Twitter user said they worked at a private airport on Long Island when Lopez was with her ex-husband Marc Anthony. "I can confirm she is a nightmare person," they wrote. "I have so many stories about her being a rude and nasty person."

Indeed, other hospitality employees who claimed to have worked with Lopez seemingly corroborated the TikToker's story on X, stating that people were not allowed to speak to or look at her.

@labellatini on TikTok also alleges that Lopez kicked her friend off a project because he made eye contact with her.

The singer came under fire last month after an interviewer on the red carpet asked her what she was wearing. Lopez turned to face her for a second, appearing almost irritated, looked away and, in a monotone voice, answered, "Schiaparelli." I don't think Lopez deserved hate for this since she simply answered a question unenthusiastically, but people couldn't help but feel like Lopez was "rude." Check the video out for yourself:

"She Can’t Sing"

Another complaint I've seen about Lopez is that she can't sing and reportedly uses other singers' vocals without their knowledge. For example, her song "I'm Real" is believed to be Ashanti's vocals, not J.Lo's.

In 2014, Ashanti said that she demoed the song, and they kept her parts in it even though it was given to Lopez. “I demoed the record for her," she said, "and they kept my hook and, you know, they kept some of the backgrounds and ad libs and stuff like that."

“And it was funny, it was bittersweet because I was really excited ’cause it was J.Lo. But I was so mad at Irv. I was like, ‘You know I wanted that record!’ … I was so mad, but I was happy at the same time because it was J.Lo.”

The Bear's Ayo Edebiri is a real one. In a 2020 episode of the Scam Goddess podcast, host Laci Mosley jokingly said that Lopez’s “whole career is one long scam.”

Edebiri responded, "Well, that’s the thing — she thinks she’s on multiple tracks, but it’s not her. I think she thinks that she’s still good, even though she’s not singing for most of these songs…A lot of the write-ups of the songs will be like, ‘J.Lo didn’t have time to make it to the studio.’ Like, ‘J.Lo was busy.’ Doing what? Not singing, obviously.” Edebiri later apologized for her remarks when she and Lopez made an SNL appearance together earlier this year.

Jennifer Lopez Is “Delulu"

Lopez's purported delusional status has been circulating on social media for some time now. In a recently resurfaced interview, Lopez had some audacious things to say about fellow actresses. She's said that when Cameron Diaz is "directed, she can be good," and seemingly shaded Paltrow, stating, "Tell me what she's been in? I swear to God, I don't remember anything she was in."

When Lopez was asked at the time how she landed so many roles, she said, "Because I'm the best. I feel I can do anything – any kind of role. I'm fearless. I work really hard. I'll just get better as I go along because I'm open to getting better. If you have the goods, there's nothing to be afraid of. If somebody doesn't have the goods, they're insecure. I don't have that problem."

And, of course, how could we forget the self-financed This Is Me... Now, Lopez's documentary? movie? music video? I have no clue, but what I do know is that it's about the most delulu thing that J.Lo's ever created.

Suffice it to say that Lopez has had an insanely successful career, which could explain her diva-like behavior. Decades of stardom and fame can lead to entitlement. But despite her ongoing presence in the spotlight, it's clear that the public support for her has waned.

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