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Nipplegate Revisited: Why America Owes Janet Jackson an appology!

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woow, great article. damn, they sure do owe her an apology, and it can't happen fast enough! I wasn't aware it had such a negative affect on her career. everything about it is just so unfair

it made me think about Michael's interview with Geraldo Rivera:
GR: Do you think the controversy was overblown? Do you think it’s a Jackson related phenomena or is it a testament to our times socially in this country?

GR: I mentioned Janet’s fiasco and the exaggerated response to it. Once again do you think he only did it because he knew he could get away with it because you’re Michael Jackson?

I think absolutely it has something to do with her being a Jackson. I have no doubt in my mind about that
 
Agree Michaels Lover, and also agree with MJ's answer to Geraldo. The backlash was anti-Jackson, sexiest, given that Justin Timberlake was uneffected and virtually went from strength to strength, possibly racist? Radio not playing her was incredibly unfair and hypocritical and must have been hurtful for her to watch JT get none-stop airplay and his success grow. Also ageist? All because of a breast? Sickening and ignorant behaviour and nobody has apologised to her.
 
definitely racist as well!

this really got to me:
Janet after the Halftime Show prove that the struggle for civil rights for women and people of color is an ongoing negotiation. The oppression is still all around us; it has simply evolved and learned how to camouflage.

it just makes me so frustrated, that in this day and age, the color of your skin is still an issue. do you think there will ever come a time where it's not? not in our lifetime, anyway :no:

and I also like the fact that the article touch the issue about what affect it had on children. yeah, kids see things that are much worse, and if that doesn't traumatize them, this certainly wont, either. ugh, the hypocrisy just makes me sick to my stomach
 
Well, don't hold your breath for the NFL (and the media) to apologize to her anytime soon. During the halftime show on Sunday's game, I noticed (during the part when they were showing flashbacks of 50 years of halftime acts) that many of the big time acts got a flash, except Janet's halftime show with Justin. They could have shown an image of her halftime show prior to the wardrobe malfunction. It's not like anyone forgot she did a halftime show. As a matter of fact, one of the teams that competed in this year's Super Bowl was playing in the game the year she performed...the Carolina Panthers. This was the first time since the "Nipplegate" Super Bowl the team made it back to the big game.
 
^^They should have shown a clip of her halftime show during the tribute at the end. It was a perfect opportunity and would have went a long way to resolving it. Just a few seconds would have said a lot. Her career took such a massive hit from such a small incident. Very unfair.
 
I am greatly surprised to hear that there are people who still believe that Janet’s breat exposure at the Super Bowl event was unplanned.

Janet was to make a major comeback at that time. Her new album was about to get a release in two months. Her decision to partially expose her breast was a make-or-break move & she decided to take the plunge. In other words, she decided to roll the dice with that move knowing before hand the ramifications of such an act.

Eventually, her act did not go down well at all, leading to (just in case) subsequent apologies from all the parties involved. As a result of that exposure, her music (videos & songs) was kept off from different media services & she received a disproportionate amount of blacklisting for that less than a second breast exposure.

But, on the bright side, Janet benefited also (to a degree) from that move. Her name was continuously being played on major news media gaining in that way even more publicity. Many people still link her name solely to that Super Bowl breast exposure (rather than to her music) & this is not necessarily a bad thing, especially for female artists in the show biz industry.

Personally, I always regarded her less than a second breast exposure as a storm in a teacup.

For me, the only blamable thing from that performance was Justin Timberlake’s ludicrous appearance, & people should have placed emphasis on it. Quite frankly, everything on him looked completely out of place, not to mention his overly casual outfit (for such a high profile performance) that was in complete contrast to Janet’s attire.

It really sounds too naïve to believe that her bra was so easily & accidentally torn away on stage exposing at the same time a skillfully & neatly decorated nipple in front of millions of viewers.

To conclude, it makes no difference at all if an apology from America comes. In case it comes, personally I would not consider it nothing more than hypocrisy.
 
^ I think you are missing the point. Planned or not planned is besides the point. The point is that Janet, black female, has been treated very differently as a result of it than Justin Timberlake, a white male. That screams both racism and sexism.
 
respect77;4134901 said:
^ I think you are missing the point. Planned or not planned is besides the point. The point is that Janet, black female, has been treated very differently as a result of it than Justin Timberlake, a white male. That screams both racism and sexism.
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I am not missing anything.

In the very beginning of that article it is written that “her breast was accidentally exposed”. The accidental, unplanned character of her breast exposure is explicitly taken as a fact & I had to comment also on that.

The subsequent controversy & the media treatment toward Janet is the second part of the story & I referred to it, too. I also expressed my opinion if America owns or not an apology to Janet.

My opinion covers the whole issue from beginning to end, but as usual you are annoyingly trying to correct people.
 
I absolutely agree with those who say America's treatment of Janet during the post' 04 years has been shameful. The sheer injustice of it all is truly amazing. The overreaction, hypocritical prudishness and disgusting boycott of her music is astonishing to me. Before and after Janet's "malfunction" there were far more revealing things on American tv, yet none of those acts got treated the same horrible way. The poor woman got ostracized for a minimal exposure, in what was a completely unfair and shameful episode of the American culture. In terms of cause I think it was actually a combination of all three issues already mentioned – racism, sexism and.....Jacksonism, let us call it. Sadly, Janet became a target because of all three. As much as I've come to love and appreciate Justin's music it is sad to see how people brushed his presence and role off, as if Janet did all that alone.

As far as the SB 50 wrap up one must note in all fairness to the NFL that it wasn't just Janet's performance that got left out of the montage, but also others, including Madonna's in 2012 for example, which I loved tremendously btw. But indeed they could have included other moments from Janet's and JT's piece as an olive branch. Unfortunately, they failed to do that. The performance itself this year was full of Michael tributes, so I guess that counts nonetheless.

Returning to Janet now - America does owe her an apology, but I'm not sure if she will ever be rightfully "reimbursed" for the useless suffering and isolation she was put through. A crazy idea that came to me the other day could have just sealed the deal, but unfortunately it needed Michael's participation and we all know how feasible such thing is now.........

In another thread we were speculating how mind-blowing a Michael performance at the Super Bowl in the 2010s might have been. Well, my mushy peas brain came up with the idea to top off ALL Super Bowl performances – how about Michael AND Janet performing Scream together at the Super Bowl???? I couldn't think of any NFL apology more appropriate or a more powerful statement in front of the entire world. Can you guys imagine just how cool that might have been? Not just because they had never performed it live together, but also due to the poignancy of the SB setting.

If in 1995 the song and the video were all about Michael's uber public torments, in the post-2004 world Janet could take the lyrics of the song and make them hers as well. And same as Janet at the peak of her popularity helped her big and needy brother out, I'm sure an alive and universally marketable Michael, as he was viewed due to the TII tickets could have easily returned the favor. What a shame the world will never get to witness such a truly historic performance, a complete doggone shame. I could even picture them coming on stage from some newer spaceships, à la HIStory tour lolol. But then again, it should have been something completely new and totally unexpected from anything done before, either by themselves or others. I better try and cut it out with the wild imagination before the reality police comes after me. I can't actually believe how long a post I just done writing, but I guess it had to be done.

Don't actually know if my passion for this particular issue comes from the fact that I am a genuine fan of both Michael's and Janet's music or maybe from my affection for these two siblings which goes well beyond their careers so much so that I consider them family or simply my abhorrence of injustice. It may actually be all three things, but it doesn't even matter. What counts at the end of the day is how unfairly treated Janet has been due to a minor incident and how gracious and wonderful a sister she has been to Michael when he needed her the most. May God bless her with many exciting performances (on the rest of the tour) and great joy always.
 
I watched that SuperBowl halftime for 2 reasons-it was played in my hometown and I wanted to see what our new million dollar stadium looked like and 2-Michael's little sister was the halftime act. Not being a Janet fan, I still watched it and admit spaced out in the middle of it-but looked up in time to see the malfunction part. I just shrugged because yes, I thought it looked planned and truthfully I didn't think she needed to do something like that-but at the same time, I was alone and didn't have any little kids with me watching as I did when Michael did the Black Panther dance in "Black or White"-lol-I'm kidding-kinda.

I do remember both her and Justin apologizing and I do remember that she either pulled out of the Grammy's or they dis-invited her (I think the latter). She did that really cute turn on SNL afterward-which I thought totally redeemed her. And then I remember Justin's interview throwing her under the bus. Which made me mad.

After that I saw Justin's star rise, and she just sort of faded away, and I really assumed that she had retired or gone on hiatus and just didn't want to perform anymore-especially after the trial-and I honestly did not realize that there was a calculated backlash against Janet until many years after it happened-no radio play, no MTV-but I started hearing about this backlash and ban several years ago and I was shocked. Especially since Justin went through NONE of the same. And I got angry all over again. I agree that it's sexism and racism at its finest.

I wish I could compare it to the backlash Beyonce is getting right now, but I can't. She's just way too popular with millennials and all her backlash is lip service. -while I don't entirely approve of the song (my age, most likely, don't like the lyrics and it's not melodic) I do approve of the message. However, in this case, this kind of publicity is working in Beyonce's favor-and she's just going to sell a ton of tickets. Janet didn't have that kind of power back in 2004-Michael definitely did in 91-which is why he just became bigger after the controversial video. I don't see the Grammys or the NFL bannng Beyonce and radio stations won't either-so maybe it was a Jackson thing as well-beat them up while they're down.
 
mj_frenzy;4135053 said:
I am not missing anything.

In the very beginning of that article it is written that “her breast was accidentally exposed”. The accidental, unplanned character of her breast exposure is explicitly taken as a fact & I had to comment also on that.

The subsequent controversy & the media treatment toward Janet is the second part of the story & I referred to it, too. I also expressed my opinion if America owns or not an apology to Janet.

My opinion covers the whole issue from beginning to end, but as usual you are annoyingly trying to correct people.
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mj-frenzy, very good response. The main point that I agree with is that this entire incident was PLANNED by Janet. Janet had a costume specifically made to "tear away". She specifically had a nipple covering on her breast, because she KNEW that when Justin pulled her top that it was going to expose her breast. The designer who made her costume said that it was specifically made for the bra to tear away. That was no wardrobe malfunction that was PLANNED by Janet.
The only unplanned thing was the reaction. Janet never thought that the media and public would react the way that they did. Janet had always been the "media darling" and she THOUGHT that this stunt would give her the shock-value controversy that the Britney-Madonna kiss caused. Oops, Janet seemed to forget that she was black and the public wouldn't give her the same "benefit" that they gave Madonna and Britney.
Janet miscalculated her planned stunt and it backfired BIG TIME. All of the hate toward Justin Timberlake is unjustified. He only did what Janet TOLD him to do. I don't think that even he knew that the bra was made to tear away and reveal her breast. Janet claimed that her costume was supposed to tear away and show her red bra. Why would she have a sunburst covering on THAT nipple if it was only supposed to show her red bra? You don't have to be a genius to know that this entire thing was PLANNED to reveal her nipple. America may have over reacted, but, people need to realize that Janet planned this entire thing and she never thought that the media and public would turn on her the way that they did.
 
How did Janet deserve every criticism and backlash she got but any criticism of Justin is unjustified? Wasn't he a part of the show? Wasn't it his hand that tore off Janet's clothes? Wasn't it his song that finishes saying "I'll have you naked by the end of this song"? To say he did not even know what would happen is just speculation and one that is biased towards one party who was just as much a part of the whole act.

Oops, Janet seemed to forget that she was black and the public wouldn't give her the same "benefit" that they gave Madonna and Britney.
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And do we find nothing wrong with the picture where white women are allowed to get away with (or even celebrated for) deliberately shocking things while a black woman is disproportionately crucified?

I don't really care if it was deliberate or not. The reaction was just ridiculous and hypocritical in a country where movies and computer games are full of gunfire and violence and where rappers call women hoes and b.itches left and right in music videos. But oh my god, we saw a nipple! How horrible! This is what will scar our children for life! Ridiculous. And especially the fact that it was blamed ALL on the black woman participant while the white man got away with it, leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. This ascpect is a lot more troubling than whether it was deliberate or not.
 
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respect77 said:
How did Janet deserve every criticism and backlash she got but any criticism of Justin is unjustified? Wasn't he a part of the show? Wasn't it his hand that tore off Janet's clothes? Wasn't it his song that finishes saying "I'll have you naked by the end of this song"? To say he did not even know what would happen is just speculation and one that is biased towards one party who was just as much a part of the whole act.



And do we find nothing wrong with the picture where white women are allowed to get away with (or even celebrated for) deliberately shocking things while a black woman is disproportionately crucified?

I don't really care if it was deliberate or not. The reaction was just ridiculous and hypocritical in a country where movies and computer games are full of gunfire and violence and where rappers call women hoes and b.itches left and right in music videos. But oh my god, we saw a nipple! How horrible! This is what will scar our children for life! Ridiculous. And especially the fact that it was blamed ALL on the black woman participant while the white man got away with it, leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. This ascpect is a lot more troubling than whether it was deliberate or not.
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Of course the reaction of the public and media was hypocritical. However, that doesn't take away from the fact that Janet planned this stunt- the "break away" red bra, the nipple shield, etc. The only thing that was not planned was the backlash that she received. IF she had not received backlash, her fans and media would have been celebrating the "bold and controversial" move. Janet basically thought that she was untouchable because the media had always pit her against Michael and she was very much a media darling. IMO, if Madonna or Britney had pulled this same stunt, the reaction would have been the same. The difference is that they would not have been banned or received the backlash. That makes it ypocritical. What pisses me off are the the assertions that this was not planned. Yes, it was planned by Janet;yet, it backfired. Even some members of her family knew it was planned. Entertainment Tonight talked to Jermaine and Jackie right before the halftime and they smiled and said that Janet had a surprise during her performance.
For those blaming Justin, my question is WHY? Yes, he pulled the costume part down. That is what Janet told him to do. It was a part of the act. Her costume was DEsIGNED with the red bra attached to tear away and reveal her breast with the nipple covering revealed. Justin didn't assault her and Just rip her costume. This tear away was planned to show her breast and nipple sunburst ornament. I think Justin was the one who called it a wardrobe malfunction. How is that throwing Janet under the bus? I never heard him bad mouth Janet. He apologized for the so-called "malfunction". Was he supposed to just sit around and hold Janet's hand or try to repair HIS career after this contrived stunt? I think that he realized that Janet had duped him into thinking that when he pulled the cloth, it would only show her red bra. At least, that was what she claimed. However, the designer said that the costume was designed with the bra cup attached to tear away with her costume. Again, this just shows that Janet was lying when she claimed that it was only supposed to show her bra. My question is what did JJ fans want Justin to do? Say that he knew that her nipple would be exposed? If he had said that, then that would mean that Janet DID plan this stunt to happen as it did, and she would be lying when she claimed it was an accident.
 
^ Like I said I could not care less if it was planned or not. If it was it was bad judgement by Janet AND Justin (I am not expecting him to do anything at this point, but I am not going to say either he had nothing to do with it - how do you know he did not know the nipple will show? Of course he would claim that in the hindsight.) but 12 years on that's not the main point. The main point is the glaring difference in how the black woman and how the white man was treated after the incident. And you said it yourself:

IMO, if Madonna or Britney had pulled this same stunt, the reaction would have been the same. The difference is that they would not have been banned or received the backlash.
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That's quite a HUGE difference, I would say. It's also exactly the difference between how Janet and Justin were treated by the media after that. This is extremely problematic and far more important to analyze and talk about in the hindsight than what was planned and what was not, because it reflects on deeper sociological issues, the issues of racism and sexism in the industry. STILL! Let's try to put aside personal antipathies some on this board may have against Janet for a moment, and let's try to take a look at it from that far more wider perspective because that is the realy important thing in it and not Janet's person specifically.
 
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I think one or two people on here have COMPLETELY missed the point! Even if the stunt was planned, which is highly probable, it does not excuse the way the American media treated her, in any way shape or form. And it is yet another example of racism and sexism in the industry. And nobody that I can see is blaming or criticising Justin Timberlake, only making fair comment on the very obvious way he was afforded preferential treatment in comparison to Janet. Again, that says more about the media and NFL than Justin. I like Justin Timberlake by the way, but I'm not gong to be niave to the fact that his sex and his color aforded him certain privilages. Fair enough if a person is not a Janet Jackson fan but please do not allow your prejudices to cloud your personal judgement as if to ascribe blame on her. That is simply not fair. For the record I'm a white man myself and I'm not "a person going after the bad white man JT over what he did to the poor defenceless black woman" but simply I'm commenting on what I see. As some one used the Madonna and Britney kiss as another example of publicity stunt, to a conservative person could be seen as every bit as vulgar as the revealing a breast because of its sole intention being To Shock, why were they not cut off from radio play and other media outlets? And again, I like Madonna, I like Britney, it's not about THEM it's about preferential treatment based on race, sex and possibly a persons last name. Without wanting to come across as a paroniod conspiracy theorest, I would also throw the argument that there was also a certain amount of "Jacksonism" involved.

It's most certainly not a case of 'she planned it therefore she suffered the consequences! That's a complete cop-out to level dislike at a person for simply not liking or disagreeing with them. It also cheapens the very important point and conversation about this racism issue which some people just don't want to talk about because it's too uncomfortable for them. It's happening right now in America, in the UK and lots of other places.
 
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