Janet gives prime-time breast
2004-02-02 20:15
Texas - America was agog on Monday after watching pop star Justin Timberlake rip the bodice off Janet Jackson to reveal a breast during the country's most-watched television event.
Amid interminable television re-runs of the incident during the half-time show of Sunday's American football Super Bowl, Timberlake and the producers said it was an innocent "wardrobe malfunction".
But outraged critics called it pornography and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched an inquiry into what its chairperson called a "classless, crass and deplorable" stunt.
An estimated 100 million people were watching as the pair sang a duet called "Rock Your Body".
Timberlake and Jackson had just sung "I'll get you naked by the end of this song" as he moved in to pull off a leather cup to expose Jackson's breast adorned with a sun-shaped metal ring that pierced the nipple.
"I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl," Timberlake said in a statement. "It was not intentional and is regrettable".
Janet Jackson also apologised
CBS television, which showed the championship game between the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers, was also quick to apologise after being besieged with complaints.
"CBS deeply regrets the incident that occurred during the Super Bowl halftime show," the network said.
Jackson did not release an official statement, but her representatives told MTV News she also apologised.
The MTV pop channel, which like CBS is owned by Viacom, said in a statement: "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."
But MTV's web site had promised on January 28 "shocking moments" during the performance.
The exposed breast has come to rival Madonna's kiss with Britney Spears on the MTV awards last year in causing a torrent of outrage about television indecency.
Jan LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women for America, called it a "pornographic show".
The National Football League (NFL), which runs the Super Bowl, said MTV was unlikely to produce the show again.
"We were extremely disappointed by elements of the MTV-produced halftime show," said NFL executive vice-president Joe Browne.