Office Romance came out on Netflix a few days ago, and I watched it over the weekend. It was completely charming!! The script (cowritten by Brett Goldstein) was tight and hilarious. Jennifer Lopez and Brett had tons of chemistry, and Betty Gilpin pretty much stole the entire movie. Great extended cameos by Tony Hale and Bradley Whitford too!! I would absolutely recommend it and it really shows that there’s no age limit on romance or romantic comedy. That was actually my favorite part – both Brett and J.Lo were playing their ages and it completely worked.
Meanwhile, to promote Office Romance, Jennifer appeared for the first time on Subway Takes podcast. Host Kareen Rahma interviews celebrities on the subway, and the clips go viral often from these interviews. Well, some of Jennifer’s comments have gone viral, especially her answer about the criteria for calling yourself a New Yorker.
JLo is 10 toes down for New York City and wants everyone to know it. In a June 5 episode of the “Subway Takes” podcast, Jennifer Lopez, 56, explained how she determines whether someone is a real New Yorker.
“You have to be born in New York to be a New Yorker,” Lopez told host Kareem Rahma. “Yes! I know everybody wants to claim the city. 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.
A New York transplant, Rahma told Lopez that “everyone” said he could call himself a New Yorker after he lived in the city for 10 years, as the “Maid in Manhattan” star quipped, “said no New Yorker ever.”
Initially aghast by the take, Rahma posed a hypothetical for clarity, asking 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 said. “You take on characteristics probably by that time. You have a New York sensibility. You pay… You pay New York taxes.”
“When you’re born in New York is when you’re really a New Yorker,” Lopez added. “I’m glad this was my first take. Jenny from the block forever, baby.”
Yeah, I’ve also heard the “ten years to be a real New Yorker” expression, just as I’ve heard New Yorkers basically say what Jennifer says here – that you have to be born in one of the boroughs to call yourself a New Yorker. Does it really matter? Of course not. But it’s funny to see how many people are mad about what she said.
You have to be born in New York to be a New Yorker!! @JLo pic.twitter.com/20WoZlMxmc
— SubwayTakes with Kareem Rahma (@SubwayTakes) June 5, 2026
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and Cover Images.
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- Jennifer Lopez attends The ‘Office Romance’ UK Premiere at BFI Southbank, London, England, UK on Wednesday 3 June, 2026.,Image: 1107604795, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/Retna/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein attends The ‘Office Romance’ UK Premiere at BFI Southbank, London, England, UK on Wednesday 3 June, 2026.,Image: 1107604733, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/Retna/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein attends The ‘Office Romance’ UK Premiere at BFI Southbank, London, England, UK on Wednesday 3 June, 2026.,Image: 1107604765, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/Retna/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein attends The ‘Office Romance’ UK Premiere at BFI Southbank, London, England, UK on Wednesday 3 June, 2026.,Image: 1107604814, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/Retna/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- New York City, NY Stars pose at Netflix’s Office Romance Premiere held at Regal Union Square in New York. Pictured: Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein BACKGRID USA 2 JUNE 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: Nancy Rivera / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York City, NY Stars pose at Netflix’s Office Romance Premiere held at Regal Union Square in New York. Pictured: Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein BACKGRID USA 2 JUNE 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: Nancy Rivera / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Arrivals for the Los Angeles world premiere of Netflix’s ‘Office Romance’ at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood Featuring: Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 26 May 2026 Credit: AdMedia/MediaPunch/INSTARimages
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- Red carpet arrivals for the New York premiere of ‘Office Romance’ Featuring: Jennifer Lopez Where: New York, New York, United States When: 02 Jun 2026 Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com
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- Red carpet arrivals for the New York premiere of ‘Office Romance’ Featuring: Jennifer Lopez Where: New York, New York, United States When: 02 Jun 2026 Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com
The millions of immigrants/refugees who built NYC over the centuries might see it differently, JLO. But like most people I know plenty of upper middle class kids who graduated from fancy universities and thought Brooklyn made them edgy. I suppose at this point that’s also a type of New Yorker.
What’s with this take? She said nothing about immigrants or refugees.
You may or may not agree, but she’s made her point and hasn’t discriminated against anyone in doing so. Being a New Yorker or not does not confer specific rights. Her definition does not give certain people the right to vote and not others, for example. It’s just about claiming a city, not a country.
Whoa. Don’t be so sensitive. Immigrants and refugees weren’t born in NYC but are very much historically New Yorkers. I don’t think she meant to exclude them, but the “not born here” logic deserves examination.
There are roughly three New Yorks.
There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.
…Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.
E.B. White, Here Is New York
She’s not wrong! I moved to New York the day I graduated college, lived in New York for 20 years, built my career and life in New York, bought an apartment in Brooklyn, got married in New York State, had babies in New York, and yes , JLo, I sure paid a ton of New York taxes. My home will always be New York. When someone asks me where I’m from, I might say New York, but if they ask if I’m “a New Yorker”, the answer is always “not really”. Ten years or 20 years or more, the answer is still “not really”!
So all the people born in any other city in New York besides NYC are not New Yorkers? What a ridiculous take.
I wonder what Mamdani thinks..,
They are not native New Yorkers. There aren’t that many of us natives in the city. I think that’s what JLo meant.
The video is amusing especially when she goes “I said what I said.”
In print the opinion is controversial, but seeing the video I found the exchange amusing sort of like a scene out of a script/movie and then you have to think about whether the characters are correct in their observations are not).
I have no idea who is correct, and I’m not taking a stand on it.
There are some Bostonians with similar views of what makes a Bostonian (Donna Summer, Ayo Edebiri, Mark Wahlberg – yes; Matt Damon, Ben Affleck – no) so I get where she’s coming from even though I don’t agree with her. She just disowned Fran Lebowitz and Lou Reed, quintessential New Yorkers. . My problem with it is all the MAGA thought leaders and their minions are using this clip to say even real New Yorkers want all immigrants out, support ICE, and Mamdeni can’t be the legitimate mayor of NYC
And yet I heard many Americans seriously calling themselves “Irish” or “Italian” when they have never even put a foot in the country, just because they had some ancestors being Irish or Italians. As a (reel) French and Parisian, this drives me nuts…
2nd generation Italian American here with one Irish grandma too. I do know some Italian Americans and Irish Americans with this attitude, but I’m also going to qualify it. Most of the people I know consider themselves as Italian American or Irish American (specifically Irish Catholic) because of the particular cultural communities of the Irish Catholics or Italian Americans here in this country. There is a particular identity that comes with being Irish Catholic in America (especially the Boston area where my grandma’s family were) and Italian American (Brooklyn) that is unique to that immigrant experience. This is less so today, but when I was growing up in the 80s and especially when my parents were growing up in the 60s, you were Italian American and Irish American and not just American.
And before that, you were just American and never wanted to be associated with your country of origin. In the early days, Greeks and Italians were considered non-white and discriminated against much like immigrants are today. There was always an effort to assimilate and become “white,” that is, American and loyal to America. It wasn’t until ethnicity became cool that immigrants could be proud of their origin country.
What Eurydice said. In some countries (like the UK) it’s absolutely not cool defining yourself Irish/British or ItaloBritish (I’m the latter) even nowadays.
This is a particular phenomenon restricted to the USA where a lot of 3rd-4th generation immigrants tend to place a huge amount of importance on their ancestry. Curiously, both Italian and Irish citizenship can be claimed through ancestry as well, reinforcing a feeling of ‘belonging’.
I was born in Italy and still have Italian citizenship, there’s no Italian considering me ‘Italian’ when I visit what’s left of my family there. They think I’m an English person speaking Italian.
@AlpineWitch. We are talking about two different things. I am not talking about an Italian identity or an Irish identity. I’m talking about the subcultures of Italian American and Irish American which are distinct from the cultures of just Irish or just Italian. I have dual citizenship with Italy too, but I don’t consider myself Italian. I do, however, consider myself Italian American, because I grew up in the Italian American subculture with with one Italian immigrant parent and the other Italian American and Irish American. You are right, however, in that it is a phenomenon that is most closely associated with the US. These immigrant communities developed their own separate culture from their homelands that evolved over time into Italian American and Irish American (or whatever other subcultures of the US), and it was often in response to being “othered” by the dominant Anglo-Saxon Protestant sociopolitical majority in the early-mid 20th century in the US.
I’m not sure about the Italian British thing, but if you’re Irish I think that identity would be considered in direct opposition to being British due to empire and colonization. I believe that’s why you’d never hear someone say they’re Irish-British. Ditto for Scottish or Welsh. And then there’s the English identity which is associated with dominance and empire. English/Brirush get conflated due to empire.
In the USA I assume the Irish and Italians faced some kind of discrimination which is probably why older members of a generation identify with their ancestry, and maybe that history of what they faced has probably her passed down to younger generations. I believe the same thing happens in Canada.
I can only speak about the Greek experience, but part of the ‘subculture” thing is that there has never been an official avenue for immigrants to navigate the US and assimilate. Greeks would come to the US and go straight to the Greek community – family, friends, church. From there they would find a job, a home, education for their kids, legal advice, entry into various Greek organizations like AHEPA (a charitable organization which was originally founded to counter violence from the KKK) . This formed a permanent connection through the Greek language and the customs as the immigrants remembered them. It created an identity that is Greek-American, not Greek.
She is, of course, correct. My husband is born and raised in Manhattan, and has lived in the same apartment his entire life, except for when he was away for college. I was born and raised on the north shore of Long Island – tied to NYC culturally and by virtue of geography, and I came into the city all the time growing up – and I’ve lived in Manhattan for almost 30 years – longer than I lived on my home island. Professionally, I am steeped in the history of this city, since I work in historic preservation. None of it matters. I am still Bridge and Tunnel. I still feel it. I am not really a New Yorker. I am a transplant. And that’s ok.
To paraphrase E.B. White, there are three kinds of New Yorkers: The native-born, who take its size and turbulence for granted; the commuter – who comes in every day, uses the city, and leaves again; and the settler – the immigrants, and the people from elsewhere in the US, who comes here with a passion, wanting to make it in New York. Each of these groups make the city what it is, he said, but I think even he would have agreed only on group is the real New Yorker.
Agree 💯
@HILLARYISALWAYSRIGHT I agree with you. I’m like your husband. Born and raised in NYC – Manhattan. Outer boroughs are ‘Brigde and Tunnel’. My husband had lived here for almost 40 years. He was born in Central America and raised in California. He’s not New Yorker – not a native. We still argue about the proper way to hold a slice of pizza (folded with a napkin at the base to catch the dripping grease), how to drive (definitely not like in CA), how to cross the street (anywhere in the block – not just at the crosswalk), how to give directions (53rd between Park and Lex – closer to Park vs the NE side of 53rd Street and Lexington Ave.)
Some things are cultural that are ingrained in you from the time of childhood. You just can’t create them along the way. A native NYer can usually spot a transplant. And we all despise tourists who walk too slowly on the wrong side of the sidewalk the and four people abreast.
I grew up in a different East Coast city but moved to NYC college age last century sometime. I CHOSE to become a New Yorker. I embraced the city and the city embraced me back.
I like Colson Whitehead’s definition of a New Yorker, from his Colossus of New York book of essays. “You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now.” For me it’s the Cuban Chinese place that used to be in the middle of the block 40 years ago or that bodega on the corner that’s gone but still fresh in my mind. One of his essays talks about what people call that building over Grand Central. For me, it will always be the Pan Am building.
Yes! I went to middle/high school right near there, it’s always going to be the Pan Am building for me too.
JFK Jr has been referenced recently as the quintessential New Yorker in NYC Cares ads, and I just realized he was born in Washington DC. I do think of him as a New Yorker, and maybe this throws a wrench in things haha.
I suspect she’s referring to a “state of mind” ( ie walking properly through a subway tunnel).
I do think there are different kinds of New Yorkers, but I’m not sure how much Gossip Girl has influenced my thinking on this.
I seem to remember an episode of SATC where they said that after 20 years in NYC you coould “officially” consider yourself a New Yorker.
I think she should stick to acting.
That’s all I have
Interesting, so would that make my kids who were born in Mount Sinai hospital and lived in NYC til they were 3 and 5 but have been suburbanites since, New Yorkers?
These Kind of Things Always Kind of confused me. Say you were born in NYC but moved to Dallas when you were just 2 years old. Can you still call yourself a New Yorker? What if you were born in Miami but moved to NYC when you were 4 years old, you grew Up there, just moved away for College. Can you call yourself a New Yorker?
Is JLO still a New Yorker? IDK.
We need the J. Lo “Who is a New Yorker” bylaws
Whatever, my great aunt from Greece has lived longer in NYC than JLo has been alive – 78 years. I’d rather go by Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.”
This exactly. I know she wasn’t being all that deep in her thinking but gatekeeping gatekeeping is problematic.
This take is why I never fit in after moving to NYC for work and couldn’t wait to get back to Chicago.
Sigh. I LOVE Chicago. I love theater, museums, food, a city life. Chicago delivers it all without this BS gatekeeping. Despite being the child of native New Yorkers, I am not a New Yorker.
NYC is rather vast, so I can’t imagine there being I’ve kind of New York City type of person.
But I kind of wonder if she’s referring to a type of busy “city culture” that only those who have been there a long time would understand. There’s a bit of weirdness in any large city, where people try to state who belongs and who doesn’t. I sort of thought NYC was above that nonsense though haha.
Nonetheless, I could see a pretentious transplant annoying a native New Yorker (however you might define that) as well haha. Maybe that’s what she’s referring to? I only thought this existed on reality shows though..
I guess it distracts from this new movie of hers which is the worst thing ive seen in years
I do kind of think of Mamdani as a New Yorker, but I’m not sure if that’s because he and his wife are fashionable and wear a lot of black…I know, a very shallow take.
Sorry but that’s a ridiculous take from someone who only spends time in NY when they’re on press tours or in the Hamptons.
I am not a JLo hater and I totally get native New Yorkers being annoyed by transplants claiming New Yorker status, but you know who wasn’t born in New York? Spike Lee. I’d be curious to hear what he would say about this take!
And when was the last time this “New Yorker” actually lived in NYC? She’s been gone longer than she lived there.
Given that this is Subway Takes I’m not going to take her take too seriously. I think her second take about emotional intelligence and self love could be a subtle dig at Ben.
She’s right. I lived in Houston for 19 years and never called myself a Texan. If I move to Mongolia and live there for 30 years I damn sure won’t be Mongolian.
NYC is a city within a state of a country (which has more of a civic identity than a cultural one). NYC has a different “vibe” but it’s not really identifiable with a strict monoculture or ethnicity. I think that’s why it’s difficult to evaluate whether her statement is true or not, especially when you include the “born” part. If someone is raised in NYC from one years old, I’d think of them as a New Yorker.
Oh, so does that mean Jenny from the Block isn’t Puerto Rican? Because she wasn’t born in PR. GMAFB. 🙄
I think if JLo doesn’t stop tweaking her face, she’s going to become Melania’s twin.
IDK I think we’re getting a bit too upset about something that anyone who has ever lived in a densely-populated city understands. People are taking it literally but a lot of urbanites feel a deep sense of loyalty and investment in their city. If you’re born in a city as amazing as NYC and started off broke but worked your way up, and now have an established life that is deeply rooted in your city, you feel like you paid your dues, like maybe you have a little more seniority than the newcomers. You stuck it out through the rough times and made it to the other side while others bailed for the ‘burbs. You stayed loyal and now you’re probably a bit possessive. I think that’s pretty natural and I could see how your average, native born NYer would feel like that.
Maybe it should be determined by some version of the following questions: Is your primary residence in NYC or do you only live there part-time? How much time do you actually spend in NYC? How invested are you in your local borough? Do your kids go to public school or private? I kinda wonder how J Lo would answer those questions….
In 2026, I think I just associate NYC with a very wealthy person. I feel like you have to be somewhat of a crazy person to willingly move there, primarily due to cost of living for rent and housing. If you were born and raised there, I assume you’re staying there because of family or because your family already owns a home there, like JLo’s parents do, and there is some kind of safety net in that. Or you become rich like Jlo haha and move comfortably within certain circles so she has the confidence to say she’s still a New Yorker. Sort of like Natalie Portman now being a Parisian haha.
There was a time I associated NYC with where you’d go to dmake your dreams come true, but now I just think you go there because you have family money and can definitely afford to live there. Or you’re working for a hedge fund and they pay you enough to live comfortably.
After a childhood spent living on military outposts across the world, I’ve lived in NYC for 30 years — the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere — and I’m most definitely a New Yorker; I’m just not a “native” New Yorker…
I want to disagree with Jennifer, but I cannot. I’m a New Yorker only because I’ve always lived in New York State. But I am not a true New Yorker, as in a Manhattanite because I’ve never lived in Manhattan. I believe Jennifer lived in the Bronx, so I’m not sure if that’s what people mean by a New Yorker or if she is really a New Yorker. My husband was born in the Bronx and always thought of himself as a New Yorker. But the 5 boroughs of New York City are Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. Has any Staten Islanders ever considered themselves New Yorkers? I don’t consider them New Yorkers at all. They banned the book Heather Has Two Mothers from elementary schools. They can neither talk the talk nor walk the walk. So I guess being a New Yorker is also political and a state of mind.
I sort of figured each borough had its own distinct identity and you’d say you were from that location (or Queens, Brooklyn). So in that sense, I do think of a New Yorker as a Manhattanite. And the only person who comes to my mind in that regard is Jackie O who was not born there (haha). Make it make sense, I tell myself.
At the same time I feel if you have access to all that NYC has to offer by being in close proximity to it, I tend to think you would “feel” like a Neew Yorker. You’re paying taxes into the system and able to experience life there in some capacity by using its services, so I don’t see how one wouldn’t feel like a New Yorker (even if you’re from, er, Long Island or Westchester County).
I thought the ones who get the most pushback from “belonging” are the people from New Jersey. I mean, yeah, technically by name they’re not from New York at all, but I tend to think they might experience NYC on some level bybeing somewhat close to it.
It’s ok if everyone says I’m wrong.
As a born and raised Brookynite, we just like to pretend Staten Island doesn’t exist. We’re OK with them not considering themselves New Yorkers if that’s the case. Unfortunately, if they were born and raised there, they’re begrudgingly considered New Yorkers by the rest of us.
Sorry, “have any Staten Islanders,” NOT “has any Staten Islanders.” As a former English teacher I am very sensitive about making stupid grammar mistakes. The former teachers at my school would skewer me, so thank God they don’t know my true identity.
Thinking, I agree with a lot of what you say. People who commute to work in New York or travel from Long Island or Westchester are not New Yorkers, even if they feel as if they are. I commuted to Manhattan for 6 years and never felt like a New Yorker. I taught school in the Bronx and Queens for over 23 years and never felt like a New Yorker of any sort because I commuted from Long Island and then Westchester. Also, many New Yorkers (and I mean New York State by this) resent or hate New Jersey (long tradition). I once saw a cop give a ticket to a car in Manhattan. When he looked at the license plate, he said, “Good,” because it was a New Jersey plate. I totally get the sentiment.
With the way migration works now, it’s hard for me to think of anyone as “native” to a city. A country, yes, but to a city … seems more vexing.
I moved around a lot as a child and I feel I can’t really claim any place as my own so I find opinions about this issue fascinating. Maybe I’d be allowed to based on length of time in one place, but that feeling of belonging to a place where I wouldn’t be questioned in a skeptical way has never really been there. I envy JLo’s passion for belonging unequivocally as a New Yorker haha. She’s so firm about it , I really believe her haha even if I can sort of find holes in the argument.
Wha…?
Thinking, JLo is confident about everything, or seems to be. She sure is a Bronx girl, but if she feels like a native New Yorker, fine. For you, if you are really comfortable in a certain city, then adopt it as your own. It’s your right. There really are no rules about it, just feelings and opinions.
Next step is saying that people who are not born somewhere shouldn’t be allowed to vote where they live I guess.
I have no input on what a true New Yorker is being Canadian and having never been there, BUT Office Romance is 1 star at best, truely awful.
As someone who is born, raised, and still lives in NY, I don’t disagree with J-Lo. Sorry, not sorry. If you aren’t born and raised here, you are a “resident of New York,” and not “A New Yorker.” New Yorkers are born & raised. They don’t even have to still be living in NYC. Even if that person moves to California, they’d identify themselves as “A New Yorker living in California.” It’s just how it is. You can move here from wherever, but you’re still a resident. At least in the circlss I’ve traveled in, that’s what we consider “New Yorkers.” It’s not that you don’t get to proudly say you live in NYC now, or that we don’t welcome you. We welcome everyone, literally.
This is an anti-immigrant take and should be called out as such. Just swap “American” for “New Yorker” and see how it reads to you. It’s gross.
I’m raising a child in NYC: my 10-year-old was born in Brooklyn, goes to school in Manhattan, and lives in Queens. But I would never say my kid is more of a New Yorker than, say, Mamdani, because that would be insane.
Lau, not at all. New York is such a special place that it is the exception to all other cities in the U.S., in my opinion. It’s like talking about who is a true Parisian in France. It’s not meant to be anti-immigrant or to take anyone’s rights away from them. Even though I commuted to Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens for all of my work life, I still don’t consider myself a New Yorker. I don’t know how to better explain it.
I wasn’t born in Paris but I’ve been living there since 2017 and I call myself a Parisian all the time. This reasoning sounds like a weird sort of elitism where we categorize people according to where they come from. Sorry.