Jennifer Lopez has drawn criticism on social media after tweeting and deleting a post which featured the controversial phrase "all lives matter".
The I'm Real hitmaker was promoting her new charity song Love Make the World Go Round, her collaboration with Hamilton creator and former star Lin-Manuel Miranda, on Tuesday (12Jul16), when she shared a photo of the pair performing the tune live in New York City.
In the accompanying caption, she used the hashtags, "#LoveMaketheWorldGoRound #AllLivesMatter".
JLo removed the post minutes later, but not before eagle-eyed followers had noticed the inclusion of the phrase, an apparent reference to the Black Lives Matter movement, which was founded by U.S. activists to demand justice following the murder of African-American teen Trayvon Martin in 2012 and the unprosecuted deaths of young black men in police custody. Many campaigners believe the use of the 'All Lives Matter' hashtag is an attempt to diminish the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement, and a number of fans made that clear after spotting Lopez's now-deleted tweet.
"Seeing Jennifer Lopez tweet All Lives Matter is extremely disappointing," complained one user. "Guess she thought so too... as the tweet was deleted."
Others took aim at the singer and accused her of cultural appropriation for her earlier music releases, with one critic writing, "Wait, J.Lo really said #AllLivesMatter like she didn't make at least 17 attempts to be black between 1992-2000?".
Another posted, "Did all lives matter when you stole music out from under countless black women?"
However, a source close to JLo claims the superstar didn't mean to cause offence with the post.
"Honestly, she didn't realise the implications of the hashtag," the insider tells the New York Post's Page Six column. "Once she did she took the post down."
Jennifer's flub comes at a particularly tense time for race relations in the U.S. after African-Americans Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were shot dead by police in separate incidents last week, while five cops were killed by a sniper at a Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas, Texas on Thursday (07Jul16).
Lopez and Miranda teamed up for the new track to raise funds for the victims of the Orlando nightclub massacre last month (Jun16), when a gunman shot and killed 49 people and injured another 53 at gay nightclub Pulse. The Florida incident has since been labelled the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
The stars performed Love Make the World Go Round for the first time on U.S. breakfast show Today on Monday (11Jul16), when 50 survivors and relatives of those killed or injured in the club attack were among the audience at New York's Rockefeller Plaza.
