The fall-out of the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show incident involving Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson, and a “wardrobe malfunction” was shocking. The extremely sexist backlash against Jackson has been re-evaluated in recent years, but the damage it caused was irreversible.
Jackson took to the stage on February 1, 2004, in Houston, Texas, to perform a collection of her greatest hits, with special guest Justin Timberlake, who was just kick-starting his solo career out of ‘N Sync at the time. What followed was a moment that is still being talked about to this day, as many wonder whether it was planned, and who really was to blame.
What happened between Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show?
When Timberlake was wrapping up his performance of his single “Rock Your Body” and singing the words “Bet I’ll have you naked by the end of this song,” he grabbed Jackson’s rubber costume, pulling on it and ripping it, to reveal, to almost 150 million viewers, the exposed breast of the “Rhythm Nation” singer. Covering her nipple was a silver sunburst shield.
The Federal Communications Commission attempted to fine CBS $550,000, a record amount at the time, for violating their indecency regulations, which was ultimately voided, while the NFL banned halftime show producer MTV from future editions. Jackson was blacklisted for years, while Timberlake only became more popular. The creation of YouTube was reportedly inspired by people’s search for footage of the incident, which unless they had recorded the Super Bowl, there was no way of accessing.
It was eventually revealed that Timberlake’s stunt had been planned, but that the intended result was for only the black rubber fabric to come off, leaving Jackson’s red laced bra intact. The older singer released an apology, damage-control video at the request of CBS shortly after, saying that the decision to change the performance to include the bit was made without the knowledge of MTV, CBS, or NFL. Timberlake also stated that the nipple reveal was accidental and apologized if it offended anyone. “I’m frustrated that my character is being questioned,” he said at the 2004 Grammys, broadcast by CBS, and from which Jackson was banned.
The public accused Timberlake of throwing Jackson under the bus and not standing up for her enough in the face of the contrasting reactions. He would later speak on how double standards affected Jackson, in a 2006 MTV special about his career.
“I was sort of dumbfounded at how crucified the whole thing was. It’s an understatement to say that it was sort of unfair. If you consider it 50/50, I probably got 10% of the blame and I think that says something about society. I think that America is harsher on women, and I think that America is unfairly harsh on ethnic people. At the time it was happening it was so crazy to me that I didn’t handle it the best way I could have.”
According to the 2022 Lifetime docu-series about Janet Jackson, the “Rock Your Body” singer invited her to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show he headlined in 2018, but she declined. The whole event was brought back into the limelight following a wave of criticism against Justin Timberlake from Britney Spears supporters in 2021 who claimed both she and Janet Jackson had been victims of his misogyny. He issued a public apology on his Instagram apologizing to both women and to Jackson directly, for the first time ever.