{"id":354564,"date":"2026-05-08T08:01:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/mia-starr-claims-jennifer-lopez-body-shamed-her-at-super-bowl-rehearsals-the-worst-experience-ive-ever-had"},"modified":"2026-05-08T08:01:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:01:59","slug":"mia-starr-claims-jennifer-lopez-body-shamed-her-at-super-bowl-rehearsals-the-worst-experience-ive-ever-had","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/mia-starr-claims-jennifer-lopez-body-shamed-her-at-super-bowl-rehearsals-the-worst-experience-ive-ever-had","title":{"rendered":"Mia Starr Claims Jennifer Lopez Physique-Shamed Her at Tremendous Bowl Rehearsals: “The Worst Expertise I’ve Ever Had”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mia Starr quit her job on the casting team of The Voice<\/i> to dance at the Super Bowl. That should have been the end of the story: a huge career moment, a personal win, the kind of gig people bring up for years anytime somebody asks about the coolest thing they have ever done. Instead, Mia walked away from Jennifer Lopez\u2019s 2020 Super Bowl LIV halftime show with memories she claims stayed with her for five years, including a look of disgust, nine hours of rehearsing shirtless, a $20 check, and the decision to send that check right back.<\/p>\n

The RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> season 18<\/a> contestant has described the experience as \u201cthe worst experience that I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d and once she started breaking down what allegedly happened during those three months of rehearsals in Miami, the story quickly went viral online. Part of that is because people already expect pressure and perfectionism around a Super Bowl performance. Still, the details Mia shared felt less like tough rehearsal culture and more like somebody counting down the days until it was finally over.<\/p>\n

Jennifer\u2019s Shocking Request<\/h2>\n

Mia, whose legal name is Mikey Pesante, did not enter the industry as someone new. She had already danced for Britney Spears and Rihanna, and she had been booked directly by the show\u2019s choreographer. At the time, she had recently returned to dancing after spending a stretch working office jobs in casting, so she already knew how physically intense the rehearsal process would be.<\/p>\n

That is why her reaction to the body comments stood out so much in her interview with Entertainment Weekly<\/a>. \u201cI get it, but I was like, bitch, this is literally day two, and we have three months, and I know my body. I\u2019m going to snatch it back if we\u2019re going to be dancing 60 hours a week. We have three more months, give me a break!\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Mia\u2019s account, Lopez arrived on the second day of rehearsals and approached her directly while the rest of the room watched. Then came the interaction, Mia continued speaking about years later.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s like, \u2018Can you take off your shirt?\u2019 I\u2019m like, fuck. I take off my shirt, and she makes this face, followed by, \u2018Guys, I need you to elevate yourselves. I need you to go to the gym and take care of yourself.\u201d The way Mia described the moment made it sound deeply uncomfortable, especially because it happened publicly and so early into rehearsals.<\/p>\n

Things did not end there either. \u201cShe then made us rehearse for nine hours shirtless,\u201d Mia said. \u201cSo as I\u2019m dancing, I\u2019m jiggling the fuck out of the entire nine hours. It was, like, a hazing. I was like why am I here? Why am I doing this to myself?\u201d Which only made the embarrassment worse as the day dragged on.<\/p>\n

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Eight Hours of Work, Two Hours of \u201cI Hate It\u201d<\/h2>\n

According to Mia, the comments about appearance were not isolated moments. Speaking at the interview, she described what she alleged was a consistent pattern throughout the rehearsal process, especially during the final stretch of long rehearsal days.<\/p>\n

Mia said that Lopez would arrive during the final two hours of a 10-hour rehearsal day, after the dancers had already spent eight hours working. Then, according to Mia, Lopez would look at everything they had built and say \u201cI hate it\u201d before giving what Mia described as \u201cthis big spiel.\u201d After that, changes would be made to the choreography and staging.<\/p>\n

Mia acknowledged that changes are completely normal in productions that large. What bothered her, according to her account, was the repeated criticism of the adult dancers\u2019 appearance, while Lopez, as Mia described her, was \u201csuper sweet to the kids\u201d involved in the performance.<\/p>\n

As rehearsals continued, Mia said the entire experience began to feel emotionally draining rather than exciting. \u201cI\u2019m busting my ass. This dream job wasn\u2019t what I expected in the sense that this is the biggest moment of a dancer\u2019s career, and it felt like hell up until the point of the performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

A $20 Check Returned<\/h2>\n

By Mia\u2019s account, the performance itself went well, and Lopez was happy with the final result. Then things took another turn around the release of Lopez\u2019s Netflix documentary Halftime<\/i>. According to Mia, the dancers learned they had been filmed throughout rehearsals and were asked at the last minute to sign appearance releases without payment attached.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, no, you didn\u2019t put me through all of that to not pay me,\u201d Mia said. \u201cI didn\u2019t sign the paper. There were a few of us that didn\u2019t sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite that, Mia still appeared in the documentary. Then a $20 check arrived, which just made the situation feel even more insulting to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told my agent, \u2018You know what, actually, you can just please send this back, they clearly need it more than I do,’\u201d she said. \u201cI sent it back, because it\u2019s super insulting. I just had to laugh at that point, I was like, this is unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, according to her, another offer from Lopez\u2019s camp came through, but by then she had already decided she wanted no further involvement. \u201cI said no. I was like, nope, no, no, no, ever.\u201d<\/p>\n