Before M.I.A. flipped everyone the bird at the halftime show or David Ortiz was handed a microphone and proclaimed “This is our f—king city,” the Federal Communications Commission had to worry about the halftime show at Superbowl XXXVIII and the controversy that arose when Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson’s nipple to a viewing audience of about 90 million people.
Like the Kennedy Assassination, the O.J. Simpson verdict or the first time you had a Doritos Locos Taco, you can probably remember where you were at the time…
After the “accidental” exposure, Jackson’s spokesperson described the incident as “a malfunction of the wardrobe.” Somewhat hard to believe since Timberlake was singing “gonna have you naked by the end of this song” when he swiped at her chest. But the $550,000 fine that the FCC tried to impose on CBS seemed kind of harsh. The Supreme Court agreed and after almost 10 years of legal wrangling, the FCC’s indecency fine was struck down once and for all.
Although the FCC didn’t get any money out of it, the legacy of the wardrobe malfunction lives on to this day. It’s constantly referenced in popular culture and numerous conspiracy theories about the incident abound in dark corner of the Internet. The Chambers Dictionary added the term in 2008 and, of course, Urban Dictionary has a number of definitions for it.
Here’s No. 1 – Wardrobe Malfunction: A lame excuse offered by a major television network after broadcasting nude images of a used singer.
Ten years later, one of the men who led the charge to stick it to CBS after his agency received more than 500,000 complaints, former FCC chairman Michael Powell, admits that the controversy was a little much, even if the performance was “kind of racy.”
“I think we’ve been removed from this long enough for me to tell you that I had to put my best version of outrage on that I could put on,” he said during an interview with ESPN. “Part of it was surreal, right? Look, I think it was dumb to happen, and they knew the rules and were flirting with them, and my job is to enforce the rules, but, you know, really? This is what we’re gonna do?”
If one of this year’s halftime performers, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, follows through with the wardrobe malfunction he threatened on Twitter, the FCC might be back in court yet again. “Anybody wanna see my c–k at the Super Bowl?” the 51-year-old tweeted, before quickly deleting it.
Jackson and Timberlake might have tweeted about what they were planning back in 2004…if Twitter had existed.
Still, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Just like after the 2003 season, John Fox is coaching a team in the Super Bowl, Timberlake is at the top of charts and some guy named Peyton Manning is the NFL leader in total passing yards, completions and passing yards-per-game. The only difference is that 10 years ago, Brett Favre led the NFL with 32 passing touchdowns and Manning came in second with 29; this year Manning is first after throwing 55.
Come to think of it, Favre had a wardrobe malfunction of his own…
Evan Bleier is a freelance writer based out of wherever he can plug in his laptop. You can send him questions, comments and Buffalo wing suggestions @itishowitis or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook
Photo Credit: Getty
