Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy

Super Bowl XXXVIII, which was broadcast live on February 1, 2004 from Houston, Texas on the CBS television network in the United States, was noted for a controversial halftime show in which Janet Jackson's bare breast was exposed by Justin Timberlake in what was referred to as a "wardrobe malfunction".^[1] The incident, sometimes referred to as Nipplegate,^[2][3] was widely discussed. It, along with the rest of the halftime show, led to an immediate crackdown and widespread debate on perceived "indecency" in broadcasting^[1], and resulted in a record $550,000 fine levied by the Federal Communications Commission to CBS,^[4] as well as an increase of FCC fines per indecency violation from $27,500 to $325,000.^[5] Additionally, the halftime show was seen by some as a sign of decreasing morality in the national culture.^[6][7][8][9]

Among several other acts, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performed a medley of their songs "All for You" and "Rhythm Nation" by Jackson^[10] and "Rock Your Body" by Timberlake^[11] during the halftime show. The performance featured many suggestive dance moves by both singers, and as the song reached the final line, "I'm gonna have you naked by the end of this song," Timberlake pulled off a part of Jackson's costume, revealing her right breast (adorned with a large, sun-shaped nipple shield, a piece of jewelry worn to accentuate the appearance of a nipple piercing).^[1][12] Besides Jackson's exposure, the show featured numerous dancers, alongside rappers Sean "Diddy" Combs (who was nicknamed "P. Diddy" at the time) and Nelly, who were grabbing their crotches,^[13] along with other participants in costumes, such as Kid Rock wearing an American flag with holes for the sleeves and collar, which some viewers felt was offensive due to the "difficult times of war" going on.^[14]

In the immediate aftermath, the CBS broadcast cut to an aerial view of the stadium, but was unable to do so before the picture was sent to millions of viewers' televisions. Many considered this indecent exposure, as a record-breaking 200,000 Americans contacted the FCC within the weeks following the show to complain, saying it was inappropriate in the context of a football game.^[15]

The halftime show was produced by MTV and aired on the CBS television network. At the time, both MTV and CBS were owned by the media group Viacom (as of January 2006, the companies have been split into separate entities, CBS became self-owned, however MTV became part of the new Viacom group spun off from the old Viacom, now known as CBS Corporation. Both companies are still owned by National Amusements). The controversy prompted tighter control of live television and radio broadcasts in the United States by station owners in fear of high fines that could be levied by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Following the incident, the NFL announced that MTV, who also produced the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXV, would never be involved in another halftime show.^[16]

In the United States, the exposure of Jackson's breast led to much media controversy and headlines. Conservative media watchdog group Parents Television Council issued a statement that same day condemning the halftime show, announcing that their members would file indecency complaints with the FCC and the council supported the FCC's decision to investigate the halftime show immediately.^[17] In addition, the FCC received nearly 540,000 complaints from Americans,^[16] the PTC claiming responsibility for around 65,000 of them.^[18] Many parents also expressed their disappointment towards the Super Bowl, claiming that they expected it to be a family-friendly event but instead had to be subjected to the sexually charged content.^[19] The columnists L. Brent Bozell III^[6] and Phyllis Schlafly^[9] also expressed criticism of the halftime show in their respective weekly columns. Georgia senator Zell Miller, both on the floor of the United States Senate^[8] and an editorial on Salon.com,^[7] denounced the halftime show as what he perceived as declining morality in America. However, an Associated Press poll found that only 18% of Americans supported the FCC's investigation.^[20] Timberlake even told KCBS-TV a few days following the Super Bowl that his own family was offended by the Super Bowl mishap.^[21] A Time magazine poll in 2005 revealed that 66% of Americans believed that the FCC "overreacted" to the halftime show.^[22]

The Super Bowl controversy was also a subject of comedy all across the late-night television shows, with the hosts generally joking about the hypocrisies they perceived in certain public reactions of the show, comparing Jackson's breast with everyday, inoffensive objects, and taking certain ideas out of context. For example, CBS's own Late Show with David Letterman mocked the incident all week following the Super Bowl. Host Letterman jokingly commentated on the controversy the day after the Super Bowl that he "was happy to see this thing happen...because that meant for one night I wasn't the biggest boob on CBS."^[23] The next day, he also joked that President George W. Bush formed a "Department of Wardrobe Security" to prevent further "wardrobe malfunctions" like this.^[24] On February 4, Letterman opened his monologue by joking about having a "wardrobe malfunction".^[25] Additionally, the "Top Ten Lists" featured on the program on February 4^[26] and February 6^[27] briefly referenced the incident.

In an advertisement for the February 7, 2004 episode of Saturday Night Live, host Megan Mullally explains that she will get the episode's musical guest, Clay Aiken, "naked by the end of this promo". She proceeds to rip a piece of Aiken's shirt off, revealing a similar nipple shield, and she begins rubbing against Aiken in a sexually suggestive manner. Aiken replies, shocked, "that was NOT supposed to happen".^[28] South Park took aim at the hysteria in its eighth season premiere, "Good Times With Weapons", on March 17, 2004, when Eric Cartman sneaked across a stage in the nude and later blamed the incident on a "wardrobe malfunction." In typical South Park fashion, the scene was an illustration of satire and depicted the American culture's selective outrage. The townspeople are angered by Cartman's display, rather than feeling concern for a horribly mutilated and disoriented character (Butters) who is also present on stage, referencing the acceptance of violence and the taboo against sexual references.^[29] In the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, comedian Dave Chappelle jokingly told MTV that his appearance in the VMA was "the biggest mistake since you put Janet Jackson on the Super Bowl."^[30]

At the beginning of 2005, The Onion, a parody newspaper, ran as its headline article for January 26, 2005, U.S. Children Still Traumatized One Year After Seeing Partially Exposed Breast On TV. The article's satirical target was the nation's reaction to the incident, rather than the incident itself.^[31]

On February 1, 2005, exactly one year after the halftime show, the PTC released a report titled MTV Smut Peddlers: Targeting Kids with Sex, Drugs, and Alcohol, covering MTV programming during the network's "Spring Break" week from March 20 to 27, 2004, accusing MTV of irresponsibly promoting sex, drugs, and alcohol to impressionable youth.^[32][33] In response to the report, MTV network executive Jeannie Kedas argued that the report "underestimates young people's intellect and their level of sophistication."^[32] Three days later, PTC president L. Brent Bozell published a column "MTV Knows No Shame", claiming that MTV "wants...an audience of sexually precocious children, too young for pornography, but eager for the next best thing."^[34] On February 6, however, New York Times columnist Frank Rich argued that censorship on television was becoming more prevalent following the halftime show in his column "The Year of Living Indecently".^[35]

In Canada, where the show was broadcast by Global Television Network, the incident passed largely without controversy: only about 50 Canadians complained about the incident to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC).^[36] CBSC received roughly twice as many complaints about other aspects of the Super Bowl broadcast, including music and advertising issues.^[37]

On February 4, Terri Carlin, a banker residing in Knoxville, Tennessee, launched a class action lawsuit against Jackson and Timberlake on behalf of "all American citizens who watched the outrageous conduct." The lawsuit alleged that the halftime show contained "sexually explicit acts solely designed to garner publicity and, ultimately, to increase profits for themselves." The lawsuit sought "maximum" punitive and compensatory damages from the performers. Ms. Carlin later dropped the lawsuit.^[38] Three months later, Eric Stephenson, a lawyer from Farmington, Utah, filed a $5,000 lawsuit in small-claims court against Viacom for "false advertising" of the Super Bowl halftime show, as he, the father of three young children, claimed that pre-game advertising led him to believe that the halftime show would consist of marching bands, balloons, and a patriotic celebration. The lawsuit was rejected because Stephenson should have filed a federal lawsuit or complaint to the FCC, which was already investigating the halftime show.^[39]

The incident triggered a rash of fines that the FCC levied soon after the Super Bowl, alleging that the context of the "wardrobe malfunction" was intended "to pander, titillate and shock those watching" because it happened within the lyrics within Timberlake's performance of Rock Your Body: "Hurry up 'cause you're taking too long. . . better have you naked by the end of this song."^[40] In addition, the FCC cited a news article on the website of MTV (MTV.com) claiming that the halftime show would promise "shocking moments"^[41] and that "officials of both CBS and MTV were well aware of the overall sexual nature of the Jackson/Timberlake segment, and fully sanctioned it—indeed, touted it as 'shocking' to attract potential viewers."^[40] CBS, however, argued that the exposure was unplanned,^[42] although in later statements CBS asserted that while the exposure unplanned by CBS, it was deliberately planned by Timberlake and Jackson "independently and clandestinely".^[43] On September 22, 2004,^[44] the FCC fined Viacom the maximum $27,500 (US) penalty for each of the twenty CBS-owned television stations (including satellites of WFRV in Green Bay, WCCO in Minneapolis, and KUTV in Salt Lake City; current CBS owned-and-operated station KOVR in Sacramento at the time was owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group) for a total $550,000 fine, the largest ever against a television broadcaster at that time. However, the Parents Television Council^[45] and even some of the FCC commissioners^[40] criticized the FCC for fining only twenty CBS stations, not all of them, for the halftime show.

The United States House of Representatives passed a bill, soon after the Super Bowl, to raise the maximum FCC fine penalty from said $27,500 to $500,000 per violation.^[4] The United States Senate voted to decrease it to $275,000 per incident, with a cap of $3 million per day.^[4] The two houses reconciled the differences in fine levels, settling for a fine of $325,000 (US) per violation in the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005.^[5]

Many entertainment companies were forced to modify themselves due to the public outrage. Clear Channel Communications removed "talk-radio host" Howard Stern from several of its large-market radio stations within a month of the incident, citing the raunchy content of Stern's show. The FCC fined Clear Channel after a Florida-based radio show featuring Bubba the Love Sponge was charged with indecency.^[46] As a result of the incident, some networks established regulations requiring time delays of as much as five minutes for live broadcasts such as awards shows and sporting events.^[47] When the game telecast from CBS aired starting on February 1, 2007 on NFL Network's Super Bowl Classics, the entire halftime show has been completely passed over, cutting after a commercial break directly to the second half, and another incident listed below.

On November 24, 2004, Viacom paid out $3.5 million to settle outstanding indecency complaints and stated that it would challenge the $550,000 penalty related to the incident.^[48] The Parents Television Council has frequently criticized the appeal because they have claimed hypocrisy in CBS' immediate apology in the days following the Super Bowl.^{[49][50][51][52][53][54]} In March 2006, the FCC affirmed that the Super Bowl halftime show was indecent^[55], so CBS paid the FCC's issued fine in July 2006 in order to take their appeal against their fine to federal court.^[56] CBS appealed the fine on September 17 at the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.^[57] As of January 2008, CBS's appeal has yet to be solved.^[58]

The Super Bowl broadcast featured numerous commercials for erectile dysfunction medicines and advertisements for Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light brand featuring a flatulating horse and a dog attacking male genitalia.^[19][59] Ironically, the latter commercial was the winner of the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter survey that year. In a league-mandated policy meant to clear the airwaves of such advertisements, with the exception of the erection pills, the NFL announced that those types of commercials would not air again during Super Bowl broadcasts (the league ended an advertising relationship with Levitra in March 2007 as an official league sponsor).^[60] Additionally, Anheuser-Busch said that ads akin to those would never be produced again. In January 2005, Fox, the network that carried Super Bowl XXXIX under the alternating network contract, and is known for its edgy, risk-taking programming, rejected an advertisement for the cold remedy Airborne that briefly featured the naked buttocks of veteran actor Mickey Rooney.^[61]

Prior to the broadcast, CBS rejected the MoveOn.org ad Bush in 30 Seconds because it was deemed too "controversial." CBS stated that it had a "decades-old" policy of rejecting ads regarding "controversial issues of public importance," although MoveOn charged that the networks had previously accepted similar ads from other groups.^[62]

Moments after the Jackson-Timberlake tangle, streaker Mark Roberts added to the controversial halftime by running around the field nearly-naked except for some writing on his body which read "SUPER BOWEL" on the front, an advertisement for online betting website goldenpalace.com, and a well-placed G-string. Part of Roberts' stunt was seen on-air in the USA however, then CBS chose to keep its cameras in a wide-shot view of the stadium and quick cutaways to players and coaches as Roberts ran around the field until players from both competing teams, the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers, tackled him. Matt Chatham, the Patriots' special teams expert and reserve linebacker initially knocked Roberts down, thus allowing stadium security and police to arrest Roberts and eject him from Reliant Stadium, the site of the game.^[63] In a joking reference to that incident, CBS play-by-play announcer Greg Gumbel stated to fellow commentator Phil Simms the following:

I think we've had an omen that the second half is going to be a lot of raw, naked football.^[64]

Roberts would return (as it were) on October 28, 2007 when the NFL staged the first regular season game played outside North America before the second half of the New York Giants-Miami Dolphins contest at London's Wembley Stadium in what he dubbed "Super Bowel Returns". Needless to say, he was arrested and ejected from the stadium.

Some have speculated that the fallout from this incident may have a subtle effect on daytime television. These television shows are known for "love in the afternoon" and regularly feature romantic couplings; shortly before the Super Bowl, the Procter & Gamble soap operas As the World Turns and Guiding Light had gone as far as featuring rear male nudity during lovemaking scenes. After the Super Bowl controversy, FCC commissioner Michael J. Copps stated that it was time for a crackdown on daytime television and indicated that he was reviewing whether soap operas were violating the agency's indecency prohibitions.^[65]

Two other major sporting events that followed the Super Bowl that year also were forced to clean up their respective halftime shows following the incident. The Pro Bowl, which would be played on February 8, originally was to feature singer J.C. Chasez, who was a member of boy band NSYNC as was Timberlake, sing the National Anthem before the game and perform his hit song "Blowin' Me Up (with Her Love)" at halftime. However, the NFL would not allow Chasez to perform during halftime due to the sexually suggestive content of his chosen song, (even though cable network ESPN carried the game) replacing it with traditional Hawaiian dancers, which would be more appropriate for the game's atmosphere given that it was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, and many television viewers in the nation were still in shock from the Super Bowl incident.^[66] The 2004 NBA All-Star Game also cleaned up its act, despite being broadcast on cable television channel TNT that was not under FCC regulation as with all other cable channels, having halftime performer Beyoncé perform "Crazy in Love" rather than "Naughty Girl", which they feared would incite controversy given its sexual content. Ironically, Jackson was in attendance at the game, and dressed conservatively.^[67]

Following these announcements, Guiding Light edited out nudity from an episode that had already been taped. A week later, the show's executive producer John Conboy was fired and replaced by Ellen Wheeler. All nine American network soaps began to impose an unwritten rule of avoiding any sort of risqué adult scenes, and in the months following, soap opera periodical Soap Opera Digest editors wrote about how daytime television was losing its steam.^[65]

Nighttime television was not spared the fallout from the Timberlake/Jackson incident, either. For example, an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise entitled "Harbinger" originally included a brief shot of a character's buttocks, but this scene was censored when UPN—itself owned by CBS—aired the episode a few weeks after the Super Bowl event, while Canadian broadcasts of the episode were uncensored. The NBC drama ER also re-edited a scene in an episode two weeks after the incident where paramedics were wheeling an elderly woman into the hospital, and her breast could be seen non-explicitly in the context of her injury and treatment. The media gave much attention to this editing due to ER's standing as the network's top drama.^[66]

Also, both the 46th Grammy Awards and the 76th Academy Awards, which were scheduled for February 8 and February 29 respectively, initiated a delay (up to ten minutes) to ensure that profanity and obscenity were not seen or heard. Since then, both award shows have used the tape delay.^[13]

The incident also prompted tighter control over content by station owners and managers. Viacom, at the center of the controversy, also employed the controversial Howard Stern in its radio division (at the time called Infinity Broadcasting). The expanding control on content is said to be a contributing factor that drove Stern away from terrestrial radio and onto Sirius Satellite Radio. It has also been reported that some teen-oriented awards shows in the summer of 2004 had also been purged of most sexual and profane content that had been perceived as staples in such awards shows in the past, including Fox's Teen Choice Awards and MTV's self-created Video Music Awards.^[30] Author Frederick S. Lane stated in an interview with John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable magazine that the controversy surrounding the halftime show was the primary inspiration for his 2006 book The Decency Wars: The Campaign to Cleanse American Culture, which explains moral controversies in the American media over the years.^[68]

Other sports telecasts have also been affected, even those held long after Super Bowl XXXVIII. When the 2006 Little League World Series began, ABC and ESPN did not impose a delay on their broadcasts, despite the fact that all managers and coaches were equipped with miniature microphones. That changed after an incident late in a preliminary-round game in which a player for Mid-Island Little League of Staten Island, New York, who has not been publicly identified, used an obscenity that was broadcast live on ESPN. In response, the team's manager, Nick Doscher, slapped the player, a violation of a Little League policy against physical contact targeting players. Both the player and manager were reprimanded, and ESPN and ABC imposed a five-second delay on future telecasts.^[69]

The NFL also came under some smaller controversies over its telecasts. The FCC received a complaint about a telecast of a playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings from January 2005 on FOX, the complainant alleging that Minnesota player Randy Moss, who scored a touchdown, apparently made movements appearing to "moon" the spectators. However, the FCC denied the complaint because Moss was fully clothed at all times, and his gestures were shown for only a few seconds, thus warranting that the display was not indecent.^[70] On January 13, 2007, during coverage on FOX of an NFL playoff game between the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles, after New Orleans safety Josh Bullocks intercepted the ball from Philadelphia wide receiver J.J. Outlaw, the camera cut to the stands, showing for four seconds the words "FUCK DA EAGLES" on a woman's shirt. That drew a backlash from the Parents Television Council, who filed complaints with the FCC.^[71]

Frederick S. Lane wrote in his 2006 book The Decency Wars that the Super Bowl halftime show controversy influenced the primary focus on "moral values" and "media decency" in the 2004 Democratic Party primaries. After the re-election victory of incumbent candidate George W. Bush, exit polls immediately following the elections revealed that nearly 20% of voters chose morality as their priority issue in voting, and 78% of voters who identified as "born-again Christian" voted for Bush.^[72]

Jackson's career began to decline after the incident. Her first album released since the Super Bowl, Damita Jo, was released in March 2004 to poor critical reception yet high worldwide sales and three Grammy nominations in 2005. However, her following album, 20 Y.O., did not sell as well despite better critical reception overall.^[10] Jackson's music videos have since considerably lost airplay on channels such as MTV and VH1.^[73][73][74]

Eventually, Jackson appeared on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman on March 29, 2004.^[75] In April 2004, Jackson made fun of herself in a Saturday Night Live appearance, first while playing Condoleezza Rice in a skit, nervously answering a question by exposing her right breast, which was pixelated by NBC, then by viewing a mock "home video" from her childhood when her bathing suit top came off in a wading pool.^[76][73] In 2006, during an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Jackson stated that the Super Bowl scandal was an accident.^[77]

In the meantime, after the Super Bowl, Justin Timberlake won two Grammy awards in 2004 and put his musical career on hiatus to focus on acting.^[78] In 2006, Timberlake released an album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100^[79] and spawned several number-one singles.^[80] Timberlake also told MTV that he "probably got 10 percent of the blame", later explaining that "America's harsher on women" and "unfairly harsh on ethnic people", referring to the backlash suffered by him and Jackson.^[81]

In 2008, MTV began rotating Janet Jackson's most recent video "Feedback"^[82], whose song was included Jackson's tenth studio album Discipline, which debuted in the top spot on the American Billboard 200 chart, selling nearly 181,000 copies its first week out.^[83] The cable network had also featured Jackson as its "Artist of the Week" for the week of February 25.^[84] Meanwhile, Timberlake starred in a Pepsi-Cola ad airing during Super Bowl XLII.^[85]

• Lane, Frederick S. (2006), The Decency Wars: The Campaign to Cleanse American Culture, Amherst, New York, United States: Prometheus Books, ISBN 1591024277 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)