It was on February 1, 2004 that the infamous flashing of Janet Jackson’s bare breast during the Super Bowl halftime performance with Justin Timberlake touched off a controversy, during a presidential election year that many used to declare the decline of morality in America had reached a new low.
During the performance is his song, “Rock Your Body,” Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson were together on stage when JT made a move that exposed part of Janet Jackson’s bare breast for about a half second.
The camera shot suddenly went to a wide shot of the stadium. The move JT made during the choreographed show was supposed to reveal Janet Jackson’s red lace bra, but instead, her bare breast was exposed. She was wearing a nipple shield, however; so her actual nipple was not exposed. The fact that Janet Jackson was wearing a nipple shield suggests that the incident may have been a planned publicity stunt.
Justin Timberlake’s excuse of a “wardrobe malfunction” instantly became part of pop culture.
America was shocked! A bare breast was exposed during a live broadcast of the Super Bowl, which was always promoted as a family-friendly event.
How could this happen? And what impact will this have on America’s youth?
Following the incident, CBS, the network that aired the Super Bowl that year, and the FCC received a record number of complaints. The FCC fined CBS $550,000, but the fine was voided by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 2011.
It appears there was a double standard in how Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson were judged for the incident that became known as “Nipplegate.” Timberlake’s apology seemed enough to get him back in the good graces of America, but Janet Jackson had her songs being pulled from the playlists of radio stations and her videos from MTV, in addition to having her invitation to the Grammy’s taken away.
Looking back to the moment when Jackson’s bare breast was exposed to a worldwide audience of 143.6 million, it doesn’t seem as if that incident deserved the attention it generated. A quick flash of a bare breast with a nipple shield during the Super Bowl halftime show should not have been defined as a statement about morality in America. But the temptation to use that moment to make a statement about morality in America is understandable during a presidential election year when things like morality are linked to who should be elected leader of this country.
If we put the incident in perspective 17 years later, it is impossible to make the argument that the incident made any significant statement about morals in America.
If something like that happens again, maybe we can remember that moment in 2004 and realize that a media frenzy does not always reflect the true impact of society.
