At the annual iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles tonight you’d be mistaken in thinking the ceremony was for anyone but pop star, Jennifer Lopez. During the star-studded event the actress and award-winning musician accepted this year’s Icon Award. With Ben Affleck, his son Samuel, 10, and Lopez’s daughter Emme, 14, cheering from the crowd, she took the opportunity to well… just be an icon.
“I appreciate this so much, so very, very much,” Lopez told the celebrity-fuelled audience. “I wish I could tell you that awards were the most important to me, but that’s not true. And don’t think that I don’t appreciate the shiny, sparkly things, because I do! I cannot lie, everybody knows that I do. But this isn’t why I do this. It’s not what matters most to me. I really do it for you guys.”
“Because of you, I get to do what I love the most in life and that is the most wonderful blessing,” the pop star continued. “That’s a gift that you give me and I just want to say thank you for that. Thank you to everyone who comes to a show, streams a song, sees a movie, follows me. You guys are the ones who give me the opportunity every day to live a life I couldn’t even imagine would come true when I was a little girl growing up in the Bronx.”
She added, “You did that for me. You made that dream come true. I’m shaking! And I will always be grateful to each and every one of you for that. And I will never forget it, and I will never, ever take it for granted. So I want to say thank you to every one of you for believing in me when other people didn’t, even when I didn’t. Thank you for teaching me who I really am.”
To conclude, she offered her own take on the word ‘icon’ which she says stands for “I can overcome negativity.”Her speech was shortly followed by a signature medley performance from Lopez, but not before a surprise tribute. Led by the fabulous Pose star Billy Porter, a number of drag queens took to the stage in past outfits worn by Lopez including that green Versace dress.
Lopez eventually appeared on the stage in a billowing faux fur coat which was emblazoned with “EQUALITY” on the train. She performed a snippet of “On My Way” from her recent rom-com, Marry Me. It was shortly followed by a live rendition of “Get Right”.
