Today I Learned: Jennifer Lopez Caused An Uproar For Saying The N-Word

Gina Rodriguez caused a bit of a stir when she dropped the N-word on Instagram when rapping along to the Fugees song ‘Ready or Not’ before following it up bit a pretty tone-deaf apology. Now it wasn’t the best moment for Gina but something similar has happened before in the past involving an even more famous Latina star: Jennifer Lopez.

In 2001, J-Lo released a remix of ‘I’m Real’ featuring Ja Rule which included the lyric: “I tell them n****s, mind they biz, but they don’t hear me, though.”

Unsurprisingly, this caused a pretty big uproar at the time, not unlike the whole Gina Rodriguez saga. Having said that, it didn’t have anywhere near the traction as social media was not yet a thing so J-Lo was spared the awful glare that is pissed off internet folk.

Still, this was a pretty damn big deal back in 2001 as the singer was huge at the time and anything she said or did carried a lot of weight. In response to the controversy, J-Lo said:

“For anyone to think or suggest that I’m racist is really absurd and hateful to me. The use of the word in the song — it was actually written by Ja Rule — it was not meant to be hurtful to anybody.”

Ja Rule later went out of his way to defend J-Lo (via MTV) and the use of the N-word in ‘I’m Real’, saying:

“I think it’s silly. I think the whole thing, like everything else, is being blown out of proportion. She’s not the first Latino to use that word on a record, and it’s never been an issue before. I think it’s just that she’s a very high-profile star and it’s something to let people get a chance to poke at her.”

This whole controversy eventually died down (as most things in Hollywood do) but it’s started getting dug back up following the Gina Rodriguez thing. There’s been a vocal contingent on the internet trying to point out how Jennifer Lopez got away with singing the N-word while Gina Rodriguez got slammed.

Well sorry to burst your bubble but J-Lo didn’t get away with it and had Twitter and Instagram existed at the time, she would’ve got the same social media storm Gina got.