Jennifer Lopez, Spider-Man highlight MTV Movie & TV Awards

Jennifer Lopez (Generation Award, Best Song)

Jennifer Lopez made an emotional speech about how believers and skeptics contributed to her success, as she accepted a career achievement honour at the MTV Movie & TV Awards on Sunday. “I want to thank the people who gave me joy and the ones who broke my heart — the ones who were true and the ones who lied to me,” said Lopez, who nabbed this year’s Generation Award for actors whose diverse contributions have made them household names. She also took home best song — a new category — for the track On My Way from the Marry Me soundtrack.

Lopez shed tears as she thanked fans, her longtime manager and children for “teaching me to love,” bringing the audience to their feet at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. “I want to thank the people who gave me this life,” said Lopez, 52, later adding, “You’re only as good as the people who you work with. But if you’re lucky, they make you better. I’ve been very lucky in that regard.”

Lopez’s first breakthrough came as a dancer on the 1990s sketch comedy series In Living Color. She pursued an acting career and landed a leading role in Selena in 1997. She would go on to appear in such films including Anaconda, Out of Sight, The Wedding Planner, Hustlers and her latest, Marry Me.

As a singer, Lopez has earned success on the pop and Latin charts with multiple hit songs and albums. She released her multi-hit debut On the 6 in 1999 and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart with songs like If You Had My Love, All I Have and the remixes of I’m Real and Ain’t It Funny.

And in 2020, Lopez performed during the Super Bowl halftime show alongside Shakira.

A lighter, breezier awards show

MTV’s youth-focused celebration of film and TV offered a lighter, breezier awards show, with 26 categories in gender-neutral categories. Hosted by Vanessa Hudgens, the ceremony returned to a live format after being pre-recorded for several years. The MTV awards have long bestowed tongue-in-cheek “golden popcorn” statuettes for categories ranging from “best kiss” to “most frightened performance.”

With obsessive fans encouraged to vote multiple times for their favourites, the awards tend to recognize mainstream and commercial hits with large and devoted social media followings.

Spider-Man triumphs

Spider-Man: No Way Home entered the awards as the leading nominee with seven. It took home best movie, and the film’s star Tom Holland won for best performance in a movie. With almost $1.9 billion earned at the box office, it was the biggest film of the year and a fan favourite, but was largely overlooked by the major awards shows. Zendaya won for best performance in a show for her role in Euphoria, which came away with best show. The HBO series also won here for the hookup.

Olivia Rodrigo (Best Music Documentary)

Early in the broadcast, 19-year-old singer Olivia Rodrigo won best music documentary for her project Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u. Rodrigo, who won three Grammys this year including best new artist, spoke about the importance of creating the film, which involves a road trip, live performances and reflections on her debut album Sour. “I made ‘driving home 2 u’ for the fans, especially those who couldn’t come to see me on tour,” Rodrigo said.

Jack Black (Comic Genius)

Jack Black also received a career achievement award, Comic Genius. He ran onstage and seemed almost out of breath before giving his acceptance speech.