Jennifer Lopez Was Supposed To Join Madonna & Britney Spears For This Iconic Pop Culture Moment

Jennifer Lopez shocked fans when she spilled that she was supposed to join the queen and princess of pop, Madonna and Britney Spears, in their scandalous performance at their 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. The moment, along with Christina Aguilera, featured a three-way kiss thaat became one of the most iconic and talked-about pop-culture moments of the early 2000s.

When J.Lo sat down with E! News alongside her "Shotgun Wedding" co-star Josh Duhamel during the film's press tour, she got asked something that had nothing to do with the film, but that had been a rumor flying around for two decades: "Are the rumors that you were meant to be involved in the Britney-Madonna kiss true?" She didn't hesitate before confirming them. "Yes, that was actually true," the Latina pop star said. Duhamel himself couldn't hide his surprise. "Really?" he asked with raised eyebrows. She even shared some details, such as how she and Spears both went to Madonna's home for rehearsal. However, due to a scheduling conflict with the shooting of the film "Shall We Dance?", she was replaced by Aguilera in the performance.

How could these rumors have been so well hidden for two decades? Well, a lot of time and money was invested to ensure the preparations for this performance were top secret. Madonna reportedly did not allow anyone else to be at Radio City Music Hall during the rehearsals. MTV's former executive vice president of music and talent Tom Calderone told Rolling Stone, "Radio stations around the country were coming to do live broadcasts from there, so we had to get literally everybody out. And then you've got the gift room — that had to be evacuated. Even security."

While Jennifer Lopez's claims were met with some skepticism online, multiple sources from MTV have confirmed the "Let's Get Loud" star's claims. One of them was Van Toffler, the president of MTV in 2003, who backed the star's claims in Rolling Stone. And is it really difficult to believe that "Jenny from the Block" could have been a first choice? Madonna herself had thought of Lopez because, just like Spears, she considered her one of the "best young dancers around" (per Rolling Stone). Lopez had been crushing it on the Billboard charts that year, and she was constantly in the tabloids given her and Ben Affleck's ("Bennifer") break up. Saying the Latina pop diva was relevant that year would be an understatement.

However, having been part of that iconic pop culture moment might have skyrocketed her fame even more. The VMAs reportedly had around 10.7 million viewers that year (Nielsen via Variety), and it is considered by many a historical moment for queer visibility in the media, as same-sex displays of love were not common at that point in time.

Lopez might have missed a spot in a historical pop culture event, but she told E! News that she is still a huge Madonna fan. "I always have been," she said. Her go-to karaoke song, she went on, is "Like A Virgin", one of the songs she would have performed with Madonna and Spears at the VMAs!