Jennifer Lopez was honored with the iHeartRadio Icon Award on Tuesday, March 22 during the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards.
“An artist so iconic, you only need to hear three letters, J L O,” LL Cool J said, introducing Lopez to the stage to accept the award. “She’s an undeniable superstar, a global phenomenon, and now and forever, Jennifer Lopez is an icon.”
The singer, actress, dancer and Marry Me star accepted the honor live from Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium as her boyfriend Ben Afflack and her children cheered her on from the crowd.
You know #BenAffleck had to show up and support @JLo 😉❤️👏 #iHeartAwards2022 pic.twitter.com/T1socRzdxf
— iHeartRadio (@iHeartRadio) March 23, 2022
“Oh my goodness, Oh my God, thank you! Thank you LL, you are the model of an icon,” Lopez said. “I want to say thank you to iHeart because I appreciate this so very much. I wish I could tell you that awards were the most important thing to me, but that’s not true. And don’t think that I don’t appreciate the shiny sparkly things because I do. I cannot lie, everybody knows that I do.”
Lopez continued, “But this isn’t why I do this, it’s not what matters the most to me. I really do it for you guys, I do, and because the love you give me and the appreciation and the kindness and the way you let me into your lives even in a small way, that’s what matters to me the most. Because of you I get to do what I love the most in life and that is the most wonderful blessing. That’s the gift that you give me and I just want to say thank you for that, thank you.”
Now and forever… an ICON @JLo #iHeartAwards2022 ❤️💍 pic.twitter.com/lA0SJT5Z5I
— iHeartRadio (@iHeartRadio) March 23, 2022
She went on to thank everyone who supported her throughout her lengthy career thus far.
“Thank you to everyone who comes to a show, streams my songs, sees a movie, follows me, you guys are the ones who give me the opportunity to live the life I couldn’t even imagine would come true when I was a little girl growing up in the Bronx,” she added, holding back tears.
“You did that, you did that for me, you made that dream come true and I’m shaking and I will always be grateful to each and every one of you for that and I will never forget it and I will never, ever take that for granted,” Lopez concluded. “I want to say thank you to every one of you for believing in me when other people didn’t, even when I didn’t. Thank you for teaching me who I really am. Icon, I can overcome negativity and so can you, every single one of you. And let me tell you something else, I’m just getting started.”
The iHeartRadio Icon Award previously went to Bon Jovi (2018) and Elton John (2021).
Hosted by LL Cool J, the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards also featured performances from Lopez, Megan Thee Stallion, Jason Aldean, John Legend, Charlie Puth, and Maneskin.
In addition to performance, the 2-hour awards show included a star-studded list of special appearances by Olivia Rodrigo, Silk Sonic, Lil Nas X, Billy Porter, The Kid LAROI, David Guetta, Avril Lavigne, Shaun White, All Time Low, Willow Smith, Robin Thicke, Nicole Scherzinger, Gina Torres, Oliver Hudson, Taylor Momsen, Lainey Wilson, Dove Cameron, Danica McKellar and more.
2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards aired on Tuesday, March 22, at 8/7c on FOX Network.
The event also streamed on iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide as well as on the iHeartRadio app.
