The 'Jenny From the Block' hitmaker talks about being overlooked at the Academy Awards last year for her stripper role in 'Hustlers' and describes the snub as 'a sting.'
- Feb 10, 2021
AceShowbiz - Jennifer Lopez admits being overlooked for an Academy Award nomination in 2020 for her role in "Hustlers" "was a sting."
The "Jenny from the Block" singer was hotly tipped for awards success for her acclaimed role as stripper Ramona in the 2019 box office hit, also starring Cardi B, Constance Wu, and Lizzo, but she failed to bag a nomination on the Academy Awards shortlist. She followed up the movie with a Super Bowl performance and a new album.
When asked in an interview why she pushes herself so hard she explains, "If you work hard, you can accomplish something." She told Allure, "You can win the medal."
However, she acknowledges, that despite all her effort, there is one medal she didn't win.
"I was talking about this the other day. (My production partner) Elaine (Goldsmith-Thomas) made a post where she listed all the things I had been nominated for and won that season," says Lopez, referring to the post-"Hustlers" awards season. "And when it came to the Oscars, it was so obviously absent. It was a sting."
She continues, "I was like, 'Okay, when you're supposedly in everybody else's mind supposed to be nominated and you're not, what does that mean? Is it really real? Are the other ones real and this one isn't?' It came to a point where I was like, 'This is not why I do this. I don't do this to have 10 Oscars sitting on my mantel or 20 Grammys."
"The point is creating and the joy that I get from the things I get to put out in the world that entertain and inspire and empower people," Lopez says. "I think my life is about more than awards."
Elsewhere in the chat, the mother of two shared how her son, Max, 11, encouraged her to attend a Black Lives Matter protest.
"I remember my son coming to me and saying, 'You know, Mom, some of my YouTubers tell us what we should do, and I listen to them. You have a lot of people that feel that way about you.' It was his way of saying that I should do something... I said, 'I want you guys to make me the signs because Mommy wants to get out there too.' "
The star, who admitted she's not used to being in big crowds anymore, found the experience a little scary at first.
"(My life is) car to back door to security to this to that. It was scary. I got a little anxiety, like, 'How do you get out of the crowd?' " she says. "Once I got (into it), to be in the masses like that, I loved it. Like, 'Wow, there's a movement happening.' So many people, different ages, races - it was a beautiful thing."
