Jennifer Lopez’s Son Inspired Her to Use Her Social Media Influence in BLM Movement

"Oh, maybe I'm raising a conscientious, kind, loving kid here," Lopez said.

When Jennifer Lopez’s 12-year-old son, Max, realized his mother had a big social media presence—”like some of [the] YouTube gamers” he follows, J.Lo said—he told her that she had to put that presence to work to support the Black Lives Matter movement. When BLM was hosting massive protests last year across the country to demand justice for the 2020 killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (among many other Black Americans who were killed by police in years past), Max told his mom to use her fame to do good.

“He wanted me to make sure I realized that I had power and that I should use it, and I thought that was very insightful,” Lopez told ELLE magazine in her February feature interview, noting that Max encouraged his mom and twin sister Emme to make signs and attend the Los Angeles BLM event in June.

It was one of those parenting moments when you’re like, ‘Oh, maybe I’m raising a conscientious, kind, loving kid here,’ Lopez said of the conversation she had with Max. I’m not used to being in big crowds like that, but it felt very empowering, and it was great to see so many young people out there, really young people.

Of the BLM movement, she said, “I don’t think it should ever be looked at as anything except trying to make things better, trying to make sure that people don’t get hurt, that people are treated fairly.”

And although it was Max who pushed her to support BLM on her social media, Lopez is no stranger to raising awareness about injustices happening within the U.S. During her February 2020 Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show, she featured images of children in cages to allude to what is happening at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“It was super important to me, knowing that I was going to have such a big stage, a big audience, to really say some things about what was going on in this country with Latinos: people in cages, and moms and daughters being ripped apart from one another,” Lopez told ELLE.

She also raised over $30 million in 2017 to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria.

Activist mothers raise activist children, and the fact that Max is already thinking about how to use his privilege to do good at just 12 years old tells us that the next generation is already a powerhouse.

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