Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl scandal outraged 500,000 Americans

Publish date: 2024-05-12

Justin Timberlake’s infamous 2004 Super Bowl halftime show with Janet Jackson has continued to haunt the singer after two decades following a wardrobe malfunction.

The lyrics to Justin Timberlake‘s Rock Your Body, “Gonna have you naked by the end of this song,” were taken a little too literally during his Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show performance with headliner Janet Jackson. The singers were in perfect sync as they duetted and grinded on stage, but America was left gasping in the final moments when Timberlake ripped off a piece of Jackson’s costume, baring her breast.

Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl 2004 Nipplegate lives on

Millions of football and music fans witnessed the exact moment Jackson’s breast was exposed live on February 1, 2004. As Justin finished singing the final lyrics, the Cry Me A River hitmaker wrapped his hand around Janet’s body in a choreographed move. He proceeded to rip off a piece from her PVC bustier, revealing her right breast, which was partly covered by a nipple shield. According to Jackson’s management, Timberlake was supposed to pull the bustier to reveal a red lace bra, but the “garment collapsed”, as per Grazia.

The world was shocked, to say the least, and thus the incident was dubbed “Nipplegate”.

JT was the first to issue a statement, apologizing for the “unintentional and regrettable wardrobe malfunction.” Producer MTV echoed the same message, saying “The tearing of Janet Jackson’s costume was unrehearsed, unplanned, completely unintentional, and was inconsistent with assurances we had about the content of the performance.”

Stories didn’t match when Janet, 57, described the situation one day later as a “costume reveal”, a decision she made after final rehearsals, shifting blame away from producers.

Nevertheless, more than 500,000 complaints flooded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), prompting an investigation into whether the performance violated the FCC’s indecency standards.

Janet Jackson was ‘blacklisted’ on radio stations after the Super Bowl but Justin Timberlake’s career continued

CBS was never fined Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction, and Justin Timberlake went on to win two Grammys one week later. Janet Jackson’s career, meanwhile, began to derail. In March 2004, the Rhythm Nation singer released what became one of her lowest-selling albums since 1984, and her music was blacklisted on various stations.

Fast-forward 17 years later, Timberlake issued his first direct apology to Jackson, following backlash from the Framing Britney documentary.

“I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right,” he said. “I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson individually, because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed.”

The Mirrors singer confirmed Nipplegate had been resolved between the two artists, but the infamous moment will go down in Super Bowl history.

Two more shocking live TV moments

Kanye West crashes Taylor Swift’s VMA 2009 speech

If we forget Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl fiasco for one moment, we need to head to the VMAS. In 2009, Taylor Swift was a music newbie who had just won her first MTV Video Music Award for You Belong With Me. Midway through her acceptance speech, Kanye West took over her mic to express his disapproval of the win, claiming Beyonce had the “best video of all time” for Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It). Even Queen Bey was left speechless and the crowd began to boo Ye.

Tay Tay later admitted she began sobbing, thinking the audience agreed with the rapper’s remarks.

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