Lopez is regarded as the most influential Hispanic performer in the United States, credited with breaking ethnic barriers in the entertainment industry. In 1999, The Record newspaper observed that she was responsible for the introduction of a Latina presence in the film industry, which was a "whites-only preserve" for much of its history. Described as a "multidimensional artist who had turned into a financial powerhouse", Lopez became the highest-paid actress of Hispanic descent in history. Miriam Jiménez Román stated in The Afro-Latin Reader: History and Culture in the United States (2009) that "[she] was able to traverse the difficult racial boundaries". In 2012, business magazine Forbes suggested that Lopez "may be the most powerful entertainer on the planet", and named her "the world's most powerful Latino celebrity".
In September 2019, it was announced that Lopez will co-headline the Super Bowl LIV halftime show alongside Shakira, which took place on February 2, 2020, in Miami, Florida. Her daughter, Emme Maribel Muñiz, also made an appearance at the show. On April 18, 2020, Lopez appeared in the television special One World: Together at Home, performing an rendition of "People" by Barbra Streisand, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lopez will next star in Marry Me opposite Owen Wilson for Universal Pictures. Lopez is attached to star as drug lord Griselda Blanco in The Godmother for STX Entertainment, which will focus on the "rise and fall" of Blanco. She will also serve as an executive producer for the film, which is currently in development.
More InfoLopez is an avid supporter of LGBT rights, and has raised millions of dollars for HIV/AIDS research. In June 2013, amfAR presented Lopez with its humanitarian award for her philanthropic work. That September, she was awarded the Ally for Equality award presented by the Human Rights Campaign, for her support of the LGBT community. The following year, she received the GLAAD Vanguard Award. In July 2016, Lopez released a single entitled "Love Make the World Go Round", a collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda, which benefits victims of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. She was also featured on the song "Hands" along with numerous other artists, also benefiting those affected by the Orlando shooting. Among numerous other artists, Lopez signed an open letter from Billboard magazine to the United States Congress in 2016, which demanded action on gun control.
More InfoLopez's provocative stage performances have also drawn scrutiny at times. In May 2013, her performance on the finale of the television series Britain's Got Talent was deemed inappropriate for family-friendly television, and drew viewer complaints to Ofcom. Following her controversial performance at the musical festival Mawazine in 2015, Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane called it "indecent" and "disgraceful", while an education group claimed that she "disturbed public order and tarnished women's honor and respect".
More InfoIn 2009, Lopez launched the Lopez Family Foundation (originally known as the Maribel Foundation) alongside her sister, Lynda. The nonprofit organization seeks to increase the availability of healthcare for underprivileged women and children, offering a telemedicine program supported by a partnership with the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The foundation has led to the expansion of medical facilities in Panama and Puerto Rico, and created the Center for a Healthy Childhood at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
More InfoOn stage, Lopez is recognized for her showmanship and sex appeal, and often includes costumes such as bodysuits as part of her performance. Author Priscilla Peña Ovalle stated in Dance and the Hollywood Latina: Race, Sex and Stardom (2011) that Lopez was one of the Latin stars who "used dance to gain agency as working performers with mainstream careers, yet many of their roles paradoxically racialized and sexualized their bodies". Troy Patterson of Entertainment Weekly also observed that she used her body for emphasis on stage, "She turned herself out as the fly girl hyperversion of postfeminist power, flaunting her control by toying with the threat of excess. In consequence, her star went supernova." Her signature movements include "clock-wise pivoting with salsa hip circles and sequential torso undulations". While being noted to lip sync in the early stages of career, Lopez's Dance Again World Tour was praised for showcasing live vocals and choreography synchronously. In a review of her Las Vegas residency All I Have, Los Angeles Times writer Nolan Feeney remarked that her dancing is "undoubtedly the centerpiece of the show".
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