¿Qué Dice? A recent clip of Jennifer Lopez struggling through a Spanish-language interview while her Caucasian husband, Ben Affleck, is fluent in the language has social media doing a double take.
The dancer-turned-actor-turned-platinum-selling singer was a guest on Telemundo’s daytime news show, “Hoy Día,” on May 13. When discussing her role as Selena, JLo, a Nuyorican from the Bronx, struggled to communicate in Spanish about the impact the role had on her life.
During the 2:11 clip posted by Telemundo on TikTok, the Puerto Rican actress attempted to conduct the interview in the language of her ancestors.
“Más lindos, más…” she says, looking downward and struggling while trying to find the words. Lopez looks to the sky and reverts to her native tongue, saying in English, “Oh God, how do I say it?” before giving it another try.
“Uhh..impactante de mi vida um para para hacer ese rol. En ese momento tenía 25 años y yo yo era 25 cuando hizo el papel la el papel de selena en..”
And just as it appears she is finally getting the hang of it, JLo seemingly abandons the mission altogether and completes the remainder of her Telemundo interview in English.
“It just for me, it set me on a course to understand what my life was gonna be like because she was so young and handled that fame, that talent with so much grace and so much laughter that it really taught me so much. It taught me how to be in interviews because of how the interview scene was in the movie.”
Of course, seeing as Telemundo’s audience is primarily Spanish speakers, the platform provided captions for their non-English speaking viewers.
However, that did not stop many on social media from teasing the star.
“How she just gave up halfway through lol,” one person said.
Another joked, “Mas umm salsa umm mucho, umm how do you say that? Picante and what not. Grassy ass.”
A third commenter said, “This is painful to watch.”
Even Telemundo’s caption for the video seemed a bit shady. “¡Nos dejó con la boca abierta! #JenniferLopez nos muestra en #HoyDía cómo habla en español y cuenta lo mucho que aprendió de su interpretación de #SelenaQuintanilla,” they wrote.
Which translates to: “She left us speechless! #JenniferLopez shows us in today’s how she speaks in Spanish and tells how much she learned from her interpretation of Selena Quintanilla.”
“It’s the caption and her just giving up at the end for me. I’m crying,” a TikTok commenter wrote.
Then others juxtaposed J.Lo to her white Irish-Scottish, Boston-born husband, with some begging, “Ben teach her!”
Another tweet read, “And then Ben speaks it fluently!”
They’re right, Affleck speaks Spanish quite well.
Videos of Affleck completely coasting his way through the Spanish language have since gone viral on social media.
When did Ben pick up Spanish? And so well too.
— naturistfred (@naturistfred) May 24, 2024
“Ben Affleck speaks Spanish like if he were raised in Tijuana,” one X user said.
In 2020, Affleck revealed how he learned Spanish, telling The Kelly Clarkson Show, “I did a little kids TV series when I was young, and when I was 13, that season, that year was in Mexico. And so I was in Mexico for a year, and that’s how I picked it up.”
The show, “The Second Voyage of the Mimi,” was a PBS educational series and a sequel to “The Voyage of the Mimi.” It served as Affleck’s acting debut.
A year ago, Lopez doted over how well her husband, whom she is rumored to be on the outs with and rumored to living in separate homes, spoke the language.
“Yeah, really great Spanish. He spent time in Mexico when he was a kid, and so, he loves the culture, and he loves the people, and he loves speaking Spanish,” Jenny from the Block said to Access Hollywood.
She added, “He learned it then, and he’s kind of kept it up his whole life and really loves speaking Spanish.”
She also spoke about how he is more comfortable speaking the language than she is.
The “Selena” actress added, “I get very self-conscious because I didn’t grow up in Puerto Rico, you know what I mean? I speak Spanish, and I know Spanish. I know Spanish well, but I still get self-conscious — not him!”
