Janet Jackson Super Bowl

Janet Jackson Super Bowl Performance

On February 1, 2004, Janet Jackson and Justine Timberlake performed duets of "Rhythm Nation" and "Rock Your Body" during the Superbowl XXXVIII half-time show. At the end of Timberlake's "Rock Your Body," after he sung the final lines, "I'm gonna have you naked by the end of this song," he ripped off a piece of Jackson's black leather costume, exposing her right breast completely, save for the fake nipple ring shield that was attached to it. Though the two networks, MTV and CBS, which were in charge of the airing of the performance, confessed that the incident was an accident, Jackson's nipple shield and MTV's previous news website proclamation that there would be "shocking moments" at the show, suggest otherwise. Right after the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident occurred, CBS broadcasting failed to cut to an aerial view of the stadium quickly enough, resulting in thousands of viewers witnessing the incident, A record 200,000 viewers called the network to complain about the inappropriateness of the performance during a football game, which is traditionally viewed by families, including young children.

Janet Jackson Super Bowl

The Janet Jackson Super Bowl controversy involved what the press referred to as a "wardrobe malfunction," in which the singer's right breast was revealed when Justin Timberlake ripped her bustier at the end of the duet they performed together during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston, TX on February 1, 2004. Due to the large amount of complaints from home viewers to the Federal Communications Commission, legal action took place just three days after the event, on February 4, 2004, with Terri Carlin, a banker from Knoxville, Tennessee, planting a lawsuit against Jackson and Timberlake for indecent content during an internationally televised football game. He claimed that the act was purposely intended to gain publicity and profit for the networks, CBS and MTV, the latter of which funded the performance. Though evidence suggests both networks were aware of the risqué content of Jackson and Timberlake's duet of "Rock Your Body," CBS and MTV refused to confess to having known about the exposure beforehand. The Federal Communications Commission fined 20 CBS owned television stations across the country, resulting in an overall fine of $550,000, which, at the time, was the highest ever made against any one network. The Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident resulted in provoking harsher government action against television decency violations, as well as putting pressure on several television and radio networks to tone down raunchy content.

Janet Jackson Superbowl Picture

Perhaps one of the most circulated pictures of Janet Jackson during her "wardrobe malfunction" at the Superbowl XXXVIII half-time performance, is one run by Rolling Stones magazine, featuring Jackson on the left and Justin Timberlake on the right, looking down and her breast and holding a section of her black and red bustier in his left hand. This Janet Jackson Super bowl picture shows Jackson's right breast clearly exposed with the miniscule silver sun-shaped nipple shield attached to it. The crowd is also visible behind both singers, with most viewers' heads turned, possibly looking at the large-screen monitor coverage of the incident.