Jennifer Lopez, 56, doubled down on who counts as a “real New Yorker” in a June 5 episode of the “Subway Takes” podcast, drawing viral attention after she said you must be born in one of New York’s five boroughs to call yourself a New Yorker.
Jennifer Lopez didn’t just drop a hot take about New York City — she laid out a line in the sand, then watched it spread.
In a June 5 episode of the “Subway Takes” podcast, Lopez, 56, told host Kareem Rahma that someone can’t call themselves a “real New Yorker” unless they were born there. “You have to be born in New York to be a New Yorker,” Lopez said. “Yes! I know everybody wants to claim the city.”
Lopez continued by narrowing the definition even further. “Everybody wants to claim our city, but you have to be born in New York. You have to be born in one of the five boroughs to be a New Yorker,” she added.
Rahma, a New York transplant, pushed back. He told Lopez that “everyone” said he could call himself a New Yorker after living in the city for 10 years. Lopez didn’t soften her stance; she quipped, “said no New Yorker ever.”
The tension sharpened when Rahma posed a hypothetical meant to test the rule. He asked Lopez if a 90-year-old who had spent 50 years in New York had earned the right to call themselves a New Yorker.
“I have to say no,” Lopez replied. She said that by that point a person “take[s] on characteristics probably by that time” and develops “a New York sensibility,” along with paying “New York taxes.”
Still, Lopez returned to the same threshold. “When you’re born in New York is when you’re really a New Yorker,” she said, finishing the exchange with “I’m glad this was my first take. Jenny from the block forever, baby.”
Beyond hometown pride, Lopez also used the podcast to talk about self-love as something she believes should be taught as a core life skill. She said it should be “a subject in school from kindergarten all the way through college.”
Lopez argued that education without emotional growth can be harmful. “Because they teach us things intellectually, but an intellectual (expletive) with no emotional intelligence is dangerous! It’s a dangerous person. Okay?” she said on the podcast.
“If you fail, just like anything else, you can’t go out in society. You can’t have a job. You have to keep going until you become a good person,” Lopez added.
The episode leaves viewers with two clear through-lines: Lopez’s insistence on strict definitions for belonging in New York. and her belief that emotional development should be treated with the same seriousness as academics. Those messages may not align with everyone’s idea of identity. but they are delivered with the kind of certainty that makes people react — and share.
Jennifer Lopez New York City New Yorkers Subway Takes podcast Kareem Rahma viral self-love emotional intelligence education