The Controversial Comments Ayo Edebiri Made About Jennifer Lopez

2024 is proving to be Ayo Edebiri's year. The star of "The Bear" kicked off the year by taking home an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her work on the show, which, as a bonus, had already been renewed for a third season. At the same time, though, she also faced some major scrutiny thanks to a resurfaced interview in which she slammed Jennifer Lopez, calling her "a little thief!" Edebiri was yet to become a household name when she stopped by the "Scam Goddess" podcast in 2020 and ripped into J.Lo, questioning her singing abilities and accusing her of using ghost singers.

It's a theory that has long been circulating online. In fact, Ashanti told Blogxilla in 2014 that she wrote "Ain't It Funny" and does indeed sing on it. "I demoed the record for her — that was before I was signed to Murder, Inc. — and they kept my hook and some of the backgrounds and ad libs and stuff like that," she revealed. Similarly, Christina Milian admitted in 2016 that not only did she write "Play" but her vocals stayed on it, too. "Oh yeah, I sing on the chorus," she told Malcolm Music, but downplayed it, noting, "I think that's a known thing." Neither artist appeared to take too much offense — noting that's just how the music industry works — but when Edebiri addressed the issue on "Scam Goddess," she doled out more criticism than Ashanti or Milian ever did.

In February 2023, Ayo Edebiri was invited to host "Saturday Night Live" on the same night that (ironically) Jennifer Lopez was the musical guest. Initially, folks made nothing of it, as the duo appeared in a number of promo videos for the show with Edebiri telling the singer, "I love your everything." That same day, though, Edebiri's old "Scam Goddess" interview resurfaced. The show, which is hosted by Laci Mosley, invites guests to gossip about various scams. When Edebiri stopped by in 2020, she chose to hone in on Jennifer Lopez who was set to be that year's Super Bowl Halftime Show performer.

Calling it "one of my favorite scams of all time," Edebiri slammed, "Her whole career is one long scam." Mosley laughingly agreed, saying that Lopez can't sing at which point Edebiri criticized her for allegedly using ghost singers while still getting paid all of her royalties. "I think she thinks that she's still good even though, like, she's not singing for most of these songs," she critiqued. "A lot of the write-ups of the songs will be like, 'J.Lo didn't have time to make it to the studio,' like, 'J.Lo was busy.' Like, doing what? Not singing, obviously!" It was a harsh takedown of the star, to say the least, especially because Lopez sings most of her tracks. Also, both Ashanti and Christina Milian (who are still writing for other artists) never actually voiced any ill will towards Lopez themselves.

The resurfaced drama between Ayo Edebiri and Jennifer Lopez proved too good to pass up for "SNL" which quickly incorporated it into the show. In a skit called "Why'd You Say It," game show contestants (including Edebiri) were asked to explain why they had decided to leave various rude comments on celebrity Instagram posts. Edebiri's character, for one, was accused of (fictitiously) writing "die" on a clip shared by Drew Barrymore. "I meant die, like, 'I'm dying, I love this vid so much,'" she tried to explain but was quickly buzzed for lying by the game show host, played by Kenan Thompson. After several more failed explanations, the actor admitted, "I post comments that I think will get a response from someone because that's the only way to be certain I am alive."

Edebiri then addressed her Lopez comments head-on in concluding that she and her fellow game show contestants would think more carefully about what they post online moving forward. "We get it. It's wrong to leave mean comments or post comments just for clout — or run your mouth on a podcast and you don't consider the impact because you're 24 and stupid," she said. Not exactly a traditional apology, but at least it seems like Ayo Edebiri is taking some accountability for her harsh choice of words towards someone she had never even met at the time.