During an appearance on SubwayTakes, the internet talk show hosted by Kareem Rahma, the singer and actress offered a characteristically confident opinion about who gets to call themselves a true New Yorker.
Jennifer Lopez Draws a Hard Line on New York Identity
Asked for her controversial takes, Lopez wasted little time getting to the point. “You have to be born in New York to be a New Yorker,” she said, before adding, “I know everybody wants to claim the city. Everybody wants to claim our city, but you have to be born in New York.”
The Bronx native went even further, arguing that the distinction comes down to where someone enters the world. “You have to be born in one of the five boroughs to be a New Yorker,” she said.
Rahma challenged the idea with a hypothetical example. What about someone who had spent 50 years living in New York and reached the age of 90? Would that person qualify? Lopez’s answer was immediate: “I have to say no.”
She did, however, acknowledge that decades in the city leave a mark. “You live in New York. You take on the characteristics of New Yorkers, probably by that time,” she said. “You have a New York sensibility. You pay New York taxes.”
Even with those concessions, Lopez maintained that residency and identity are not the same thing. “But I can’t call it,” she said. “When you are born in New York, that’s when you are really a New Yorker.”
The A-lister’s appearance on SubwayTakes comes as she promotes “Office Romance,” her new Netflix romantic comedy in which she stars as Jackie, the powerful CEO of Air Cruz. The film follows her character’s strict no-fraternization policy as it is put to the test by the arrival of a charismatic new lawyer, played by Brett Goldstein.