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Mia Starr Alleges Body-Shaming at J.Lo’s Super Bowl Rehearsals and Unpaid Release for Halftime Doc

Her account underscores the limited leverage dancers have in star-run productions.

Overview

  • Mia Starr, a RuPaul’s Drag Race alum, detailed new allegations this week in interviews with Entertainment Weekly and Cosmopolitan, and Jennifer Lopez has not responded in the reports.
  • Starr says that on day two of 2020 rehearsals Lopez asked her to remove her shirt, gave a look of disgust, and told dancers to “elevate” themselves as they continued rehearsing shirtless for hours.
  • She recalls Lopez being kind to child performers while repeatedly criticizing adult dancers’ looks, which Starr says made the process feel demeaning.
  • Starr alleges dancers were asked at the last minute to sign unpaid releases for Netflix’s 2022 Halftime documentary, says she refused, then later received a $20 check she returned as insulting.
  • She says she was directly booked for the Super Bowl job after leaving a casting role on The Voice, later declined a one-off booking with Lopez, and now points to broader issues of consent and pay for background performers.