Was Jennifer Lopez a Backup Dancer for Janet Jackson in the Early ’90s?

Claim: Singer/actress Jennifer Lopez was a backup dancer for pop star Janet Jackson in the early 1990s.

Rating: True

In July 2024, a post on X gained viral popularity, claiming that singer and actress Jennifer Lopez once worked as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson in the early 1990s. This post, which garnered 2.5 million views, featured a still image from Jackson’s music video for her 1993 single “That’s The Way Love Goes.” The caption read:

jennifer lopez was janet jackson’s back up dancer in the early 90s, she was gonna go on tour with her until she decided to quit to do her own thing

(popculture/X)

The claim is true. Lopez was indeed a backup dancer for Jackson during the early ’90s and featured in the “That’s the Way Love Goes” music video. In the shared image, Lopez can be seen leaning on the back of a couch on which Jackson is reclining. You can watch the full video clip here:

Released in April 1993, the video portrays Lopez as one of Jackson’s friends dancing to the song playing on the stereo. “That’s the Way Love Goes” was a massive hit upon release, topping charts in multiple countries.

Lopez is credited as a “Dancer” on the official IMDb page for the video. The IMDb synopsis provides further details:

The music video was directed by René Elizondo, Jr. in March 1993. Set in a loft, Jackson is depicted amongst friends and is persuaded to play her new single. Jackson plays the song, briefly interrupted by a dancer who pauses it to express her approval. The song resumes while Jackson and company begin to dance, ending with Jackson talking and joking amongst her dancers. The video was choreographed by Tina Landon. To build anticipation, a promotional advertisement was aired on music channels for several weeks prior to the video’s premiere, depicting Jackson narrating and introducing her dancers from behind a camera lens. The video is also infamous for introducing a then-unknown Jennifer Lopez, who appeared as a backing dancer and had a spoken line in the video’s opening dialogue.

Elizondo Jr., a dancer, songwriter, and music video director from Mexico, directed several of Jackson’s videos, including “That’s the Way Love Goes.” He was also Jackson’s second husband at the time. The two married in 1991 and divorced two years later.

Snopes found the promotional advertisement referenced on IMDb, which had been shared on X in April 2023. In the brief video, Jackson narrates off-screen, introducing Lopez as one of her “latest additions to the kids”:

Lopez’s collaboration with Jackson was supposed to go beyond the music video. According to a 2001 feature article in Vibe magazine, Jackson not only revealed herself to be a fan of Lopez’s music but also admitted that the “Jenny From the Block” singer was meant to be one of the backup dancers on the Janet World Tour, which began in November 1993, a few months after the video clip’s release. However, Lopez withdrew to concentrate on her own career. Jackson recalled in the Vibe interview:

Do you have a favorite Jennifer Lopez song?

Yeah, I do. “Secretly” on her new album. I love the way she’s singing. And I like what she’s saying.

Do you remember when she was one of your dancers?

Yes. She was supposed to do the whole janet tour, but she only did the “That’s the Way Love Goes” video. Then she called and said she wanted out because she wanted to do her own thing.

She probably wanted it to be her video.

Well, she’s doing it now. And she’s doing it very well.

Before appearing in Jackson’s video, Lopez was a “Fly Girl” dancer on the Fox television sketch comedy show “In Living Color.” The series, which ran from 1990 to 1994, lampooned Jackson in several sketches, including satirizing her video clips and a movie appearance. However, Lopez, who was part of “In Living Color” from 1991 to 1993, did not participate in any of these Jackson-centric sketches.

Snopes has previously reported on both performers, including the rumor that Jackson was banned from performing at the NFL Super Bowl, and a claim about Lopez’s Spanish-language address at President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Source: YouTube, The List, TheGrio, The In Living Color Guide, EW.Com, Janet Jackson Wiki, Yahoo News, Billboard, Vibe, Jennifer Lopez Dances with New Kids on the Block in 1991 Video Clip – New York Daily News, iHeart, X, IMDb, R&Being, Business Insider, ScreenRant, Wikipedia, WOD, Nicki Swift.