Jennifer Lopez Celebrates Knicks' NBA Finals Win After New Yorker Controversy
Jennifer Lopez is celebrating the New York Knicks' long-awaited NBA Championship win like a true New Yorker.
"Congratulations to the New York Knickerbockers, NBA Champions!!!!!" Lopez, 56, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, June 13, and alongside footage showing the Puerto Rican pop star watching the final seconds of Game 5 as the Knicks clinched the win and took home the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy for the first time in 53 years.
"I remember the last time the Knicks were making a run for the championship and rushing home every game day from the set to watch Ewing, Starks and Oakley make a hell of a run," Lopez continued in the caption "We have all been waiting patiently for this day for years. Thank you for uniting our city again…for uniting the world. You restored faith, hope and belief in that there's nothing we can't do!! Hard work, goodness and teamwork pays off. You set the city on fire!!"
She concluded, "Proud to be from the block!! You already know. Knicks forever. CONGRATULATIONS!! Love, Jenny."
The Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals, held in San Antonio. Despite not winning at Madison Square Garden in New York City, plenty of A-list celebrities and die-hard Knicks fans made the trip to Texas to watch the Knicks secure their historic championship win, including Timothée Chalamet,Sydney Sweeney and Prince Harry.
Lopez was not in attendance, though that certainly did not keep her from celebrating accordingly. Her Knicks-loving comments come, however, after Jenny from the Block made waves for her controversial take on TikTok's popular "Subway Takes" account.
"You have to be born in New York to be a New Yorker," Lopez said on June 4. "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."
(For the uninitiated, Lopez was born and raised in the Bronx, New York.)
"Subway Takes" host Kareem Kareem Rahma took issue with Lopez's take, arguing that most people assume you can claim the title of "New Yorker" after you have lived in the city for at least a decade.
"When I moved here in 2012, everyone was like, ‘In 10 years, you can call yourself a New Yorker," Rahma, 39, retorted. "Then, I stayed 10 years. … The New Yorkers used to have this as a rule."
"That's a rule? I didn't get the memo," Lopez responded. "I did not sign the petition. … You live in New York, you take on characteristics of New Yorkers, probably, by [50 years here], you have a New York sensibility, you pay New York taxes, [but] when you're born in New York, that's when you're a New Yorker."
She concluded, "I said what I said, and I meant it."
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This story was originally published June 14, 2026 at 10:25 AM.