Shakira Fans Come to Her Defense Amid New J Lo Doc, Comparisons

Jennifer Lopez was apparently not happy to share a stage with Shakira -- and now, their respective fan bases are having a debate ... who's the bigger superstar between the two?

The question was posed through a statement on Twitter, which has since taken off and gone viral -- with tons of people chiming in with their own takes. The OG opinion read, "Shakira was never bigger than J Lo EVER in her career 😂😂😂😂😂😂 and I love Shakira."

The reason this is being discussed is due to this new J Lo doc, 'Halftime,' which premiered at Tribeca ... where Jenny expresses serious sour grapes about her Super Bowl gig.

According to reports, the BTS film documents what went into the Halftime Show that both Jennifer and Shakira co-headlined in 2020 ... and Jen is quoted as saying, "This is the worst idea in the world to have two people do the Super Bowl ... worst idea in the world."

She's further described as having some flare-ups with Shakira herself -- who, during rehearsals, stressed the importance of weaving their songs into the performance, per NFL guidance ... to which Jennifer reportedly says, "If it was going to be a double-headliner, they should have given us 20 minutes. That's what they should've f***ing done."

Her manager, Benny Medina, hits the point home in the film -- saying, "It was an insult to think that you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done."

And that's where Saturday's convo picks up ... with LOTS of people arguing that Shakira is actually the real global icon that Jen and her team seems to think she is -- at least that's what users on the bird app appear to be suggesting with some pretty fiery memes.

If you hop into the "J Lo" trend right now ... you'll see people coming out in full defense of Shakira, pointing out the accolades and record sales (globally) she has over Jen.

Some are even saying that the Jen isn't even all that famous here in the States for her music, but more so ... her beauty, body and/or significant others. Which is ... interesting.

At any rate, there's a bit of backlash toward Jennifer's brutal honesty over how she felt about being paired up with Shakira ... some are seeing it as Jen coming off as a bit entitled, and sort of a diva (in a bad way). Meanwhile, others are giving Jen props for keeping it real.