JLo’s Onstage Kiss with a Woman at the AMAs Raises Queerbaiting Concerns in the Latine LGBTQ+ Community

The lights dimmed and the familiar pulse of chart-topping music took hold as Jennifer Lopez opened the American Music Awards with a performance meant to stun. The singer and actress, now 55, had returned to the AMAs not only as its host but as the show’s unmistakable main event. Dressed in a tight, skin-toned bodysuit adorned with shimmer, hair loose and straight in honey blonde tones, she danced through a six-minute medley of the year’s most played hits. But it was not the sharp choreography or hit selection that set the internet aflame. In a choreographed moment that lasted seconds but drew hours of commentary, Lopez kissed two of her backup dancers — a man and a woman — mid-performance.

The scene carried all the hallmarks of Lopez’s long-standing performance style — physical confidence, calculated glamour, sexual energy. Yet this time, something different lingered in the aftermath. It wasn’t awe. It was a question.

@eljunket

Jennifer Lopez se besa con sus bailarines en pleno escenario en el número de apertura de los AMA’s. Quiere llamar la atención ? #jlo #jenniferlopez #amas #eljunket #viral #parati #fyp

♬ sonido original – Junket

Spectacle and Consequence

In the weeks leading up to the event, Lopez had shared on Instagram that she sustained a facial injury during rehearsals, including a gash across her nose. “A week later and with a lot of ice, I’m like new,” she wrote, thanking a celebrity surgeon who stitched her in time. The show proceeded. The moment was choreographed. The aesthetic was delivered. But for all the control exerted in every frame of the AMAs opener, what could not be rehearsed was the reaction to the kiss.

Tiffany Haddish took the mic shortly after and joked about it. The audience laughed. But a growing number of viewers saw something else. Conversations began to emerge — about who is allowed to perform queerness and who pays the price when queerness is real.

Lopez, long celebrated for shaping her own image, now finds herself at the center of a cultural moment in which gestures carry weight not only for their spectacle but for who they include and who they exclude.

The Queerbaiting Debate

Queerbaiting, a term that has gained prominence in recent years, refers to when public figures or media creators hint at same-sex attraction or relationships without confirming them, often for attention or to appeal to LGBTQ+ audiences. The problem lies in the economy of it. When queerness is used as a performance tool by those assumed to be straight, it is often consumed without risk. It becomes sexy. It becomes bold. It becomes entertainment.

For many within the LGBTQ+ community, this feels like a slap in the face. Being queer still puts people at risk in real life. Across the country and abroad, LGBTQ individuals continue to face discrimination, violence, and political scapegoating. Yet when queerness appears in pop culture through heterosexual lenses, it often comes with no consequence. It is praised. It is treated as edgy.

This dynamic deepens the divide. People who live queer lives every day are punished for their reality while celebrities collect applause for temporary gestures they can shed once the lights fade.

JLo Missed the Point

Lopez did not frame the moment as political. No message of solidarity followed the performance. No specific context was offered. The kiss existed as choreography and content. It made headlines. It triggered discussions about queerbaiting. It stung.

Let’s be real: The kiss underscored a cultural truth that many LGBTQ people know intimately. Visibility, when disconnected from lived experience, can reinforce exclusion rather than challenge it. When queerness is filtered through spectacle without substance, it is not empowerment. It is performance.

Lopez’s talent remains undeniable. But the reaction to her performance is not about vocal range or choreography. It is about the lines drawn between identity and performance, between living and posing, between being queer and simulating it for applause.