Key Takeaways
- Pitbull said he got "excited" when Jennifer Lopez unexpectedly grinded on him during their 2011 American Music Awards performance of "On the Floor."
- He explained that Lopez had not rehearsed the move, finally adding context to a widely memed photo from the performance.
- The longtime collaborators later reunited for songs including "Dance Again" and "Live It Up," while Lopez has described their relationship as strictly platonic.
Pitbull is clearing up a 15-year-old mystery about one of his most-memed moments on stage with Jennifer Lopez.
Speaking at a Q&A for Billboard Latin Music Week in Miami, the musician revealed how Lopez grinding on him at the 2011 American Music Awards, during a performance of "On the Floor," left him standing at attention — for a lack of a less explicit term.
He opened the conversation by praising his longtime collaborator before getting to the punchline. "What an absolute blessing and honor to be able to work with Jennifer Lopez," he said. "Everything she's done in her career, she climbed it from the bottom, all the way to where she continues to pull off the great career and success that she has."
Then came the hilarious story.
"But funny story. There's a picture out there with me and Jennifer at [an awards show], and Jennifer, during rehearsal didn't do a certain move that she did when the show went on," Pitbull said. "And when she did that move [during the live show], I got excited. So that makes sense to that picture if you know what I'm talking about."
"On the Floor" was Pitbull and Lopez’s second collaboration after 2009's "Fresh Out the Oven," and it turned into one of the best-selling singles ever, certified eight-times platinum in the US. They kept going with "Dance Again" and "Live It Up," then shared a stage at the 2014 World Cup opening ceremony.
Both have long described the relationship as platonic. Lopez has said she never had romantic interest in Pitbull and called him "like a brother to me" during a 2014 appearance on The Wendy Williams Show.
