At the 2011 American Music Awards, Jennifer won Favorite Latin Artist over Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull, and she gave a gorgeous speech thanking her contributors.
However, her win is most remembered for her final word of thanks. “I don’t know what to say,” she said, before lifting the award and declaring, “MI GENTE LATINO.”
My favorite part of the moment is the immediate pan to Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez, who are seen celebrating J.Lo’s win. Taylor then leans over and asks, “She speaks Spanish?” making Selena absolutely crack up.
For any non-Spanish speakers, Jennifer was thanking her community — specifically, her “Latino people.” But unfortunately, the grammatically correct phrase would have been: “Mi gente Latina.”
And while the slip-up was a human mistake, totally understandable in the heat of the moment, “Mi gente Latino” was echoed around the globe. It went totally viral and even resurfaced on TikTok as a trending sound over 10 years later.
Now, almost 14 years later, J.Lo finally understands why the phrase is so iconic.
In a new interview, reporter Javi Ponzo asked if he could say the line with Jennifer before the end of his segment. But before it could happen, Jennifer interjected: “OK, can you explain to me why that’s funny?”
The interviewer immediately protested, saying that everybody loved it. “I thought they were making fun of me!” Jennifer laughed.
And then it all clicked into place for J.Lo. “‘Mi gente Latina,’ but you said ‘mi gente Latino,’” said the interviewer. “Right! That’s why it’s funny!” exclaimed Jennifer.
Now understanding her mistake, Jennifer revealed that during the speech she was trying to remember if “gente” was a masculine or feminine word. And I’m telling you, anyone who speaks a gendered second language can totally relate.
“We know it’s ‘mi gente Latina,’” said Jennifer to the camera. “In the emotion of the moment, I said ‘mi gente Latino.’”
But J.Lo is nothing if not a good sport. She and Javi ended the interview with an emphatic “MI GENTE LATINO” — and it healed something within me.
I probably think about “MI GENTE LATINO” every single day of my life. Are you as obsessed with this J.Lo moment as I am? LMK down below.
