Jennifer Lopez Thanks Her Friends And Enemies In Emotional MTV Awards Speech

Jennifer Lopez has given an emotional speech at the 2022 MTV Movie and TV Awards while receiving her ‘Generation Award’.

The singer turned actor stunned in a striking black gown as she accepted the milestone award, taking the opportunity to thank her coworkers over the years.

She said: “You’re only as good as the people you work with and if you’re lucky they make you better, and I have been very lucky in that regard.”

The ‘On The Floor’ singer also added that she wanted to offer a ‘different kind of thank you’ before acknowledging the hardship she’s dealt with over her prosperous career.

Lopez continued: "I want to thank the people who gave me joy and the ones who broke my heart.

“The ones who were true and the ones who lied to me. I want to thank true love and I want to thank the way I lied to myself - because that’s how I knew I could grow.”

The Maid in Manhattan actress began to get teary as she thanked her children for ‘teaching her how to love’, resulting in an applause break from the audience. 

She continued: “I want to thank all the people who told me – to my face or when I wasn’t in the room – that I couldn’t do this. I really don’t think I could have done it without you.

“And I know I couldn’t have done it without the fans who saw the movies.”

Sthanlee B. Mirador/Sipa USA/Alamy

She added: “You are the reason that I am here and I have been here, and I love you.”

Lopez also thanked her manager Benny Medina, saying that ‘he doesn’t like me to talk about him’, in which the camera panned to a visibly shy Medina nodding his head at the singer.

She said: “If there’s one person who believed in me from the beginning, from the first time I played him a raggedy little demo of a song that I had written that day, he never let me stop believing in myself. It was him.”

Lopez concluded her speech by saying: “And Ben (Affleck) and everybody at home, wait for me to have dinner, I’ll be home at seven.”

Her award comes a few weeks before the release of Lopez’s upcoming documentary Halftime, exploring her multifaceted career and preparation for the 2019 Super Bowl Halftime Show.

The documentary also teased Lopez’s emotional reaction after the Academy Awards snubbed her when she didn't receive a nomination for her portrayal of Romona Vega in the crime drama Hustlers.