On Sunday night, Man of the Woods Justin Timberlake, is set to perform the Super Bowl Halftime
Show. Announced back in October, Timberlake's impending performance has everyone thinking
about what happened the last time he performed at a Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Though Timberlake has recently suggested that Janet Jackson will not join him onstage, that
doesn't mean the 2004 incident won't be on everyone's minds.
Here's a refresher about the most infamous wardrobe malfunction in history, which happened
fourteen years ago.
During Janet Jackson’s 2004 Super Bowl Halftime
Show performance, the pop superstar performed a medley of her best hits including "All for
You," "Rhythm Nation" and "The Knowledge" before surprising audiences with a special
appearance by Justin Timberlake. They turned Timberlake’s Justified hit "Rock Your Body"
into a duet. During the live broadcast, Timberlake ripped
off part of Jackson’s Alexander McQueen-designed bustier, revealing her right breast and jewelry-clad
nipple while singing the song’s final line: "gonna have you naked by the end of this song."
Before the cameras cut to a shot of the fireworks surrounding the stage, Jackson’s nipple
was seen by hundreds of millions of viewers — for less than a second.
CBS, The NFL, and MTV all claimed they had
absolutely zero knowledge of the stunt prior to the event.
Jackson's team revealed that when Timberlake sang the last line of "Rock Your Body," he
was supposed to reveal Jackson's red lace bra, "but the garment collapsed."
MTV, the producers of the show, stated, "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. MTV regrets this incident occurred and we apologize to
anyone who was offended by it." MTV Chief Executive Officer Tom Freston also
plainly told Reuters that "Janet Jackson engineered it."
Timberlake said, "We love giving you all
something to talk about." Timberlake performed, presented, and won
at the 2004 Grammy Awards the following week. He apologized onstage for the incident saying,
"What occurred was unintentional, completely regrettable and I apologize if you guys are
offended." Timberlake is credited with coining the
term "wardrobe malfunction." Justified sales skyrocketed in the week
following the broadcast Timberlake went on to become one of the
bestselling and most-beloved entertainers of the 21st century.
Jackson was blacklisted by MTV, CBS, and
Infinity Broadcasting, and her new single was immediately pulled from stations worldwide.
Her first album following Nipplegate, Damita Jo, is one of her worst-selling albums.
Jackson was disinvited from the 2004 Grammy Awards. She was originally scheduled to appear
as a presenter. Jackson was originally cast as Lena Horne
in an upcoming biopic about the singer and activist but ABC reportedly forced her to
quit. Disney World removed their Janet Jackson-inspired
statue of Mickey Mouse. CBS forced Jackson to make both a written
and video apology after Nipplegate.
MTV was banned from producing a Super Bowl Halftime Show again.
"Janet Jackson" was the #1 search for Lycos, Google, and Yahoo the following week.
CBS was fined $550,000 by the The Federal Communications Commission for Nipplegate,
although the FCC officially lost the case in 2011.
The FCC also received reportedly over 200,000 complaints about the performance,
leading to a five-second delay on future live television events.
In 2006, Janet Jackson told Oprah Winfrey that the two weren't talking.
"We haven’t spoken. But I consider him a friend, and I’m very loyal, and friendship
is very important to me," she said, "He has reached out to speak with me. Like I said,
friendship is very important to me – and certain things you just don’t do to friends.
And in my own time, I’ll give him a call." Two years after Nipplegate, Timberlake officially
apologized in an interview with MTV. "I probably got 10 percent of the blame, and that says
something about society," he said in 2006. "I think that America’s harsher on women.
And I think that America is, you know, unfairly harsh on ethnic people."