Many of you may remember Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.
And for those who don’t, well… to sum it up something slipped out of her clothes that shouldn’t have while she was performing alongside Justin Timberlake.
Right at the end of the performance and the song “Rock Your Body,” where JT says the line, “I’m gonna have you naked by end of this song,” he pulled off a piece of her clothing revealing her right breast on live TV.
Apparently there was supposed to be a piece of red lace covering her bare breast, but it was a last second wardrobe decision that MTV was unaware of (and frankly, pretty mad about).
It’s widely regarded as arguably the worst wardrobe malfunction to ever occur on live TV. Some even believe that the event contributed to the decline of Jackson’s career, considering the negativity she received from the press.
Dubbed “Nipplegate,” the stunt resulted in a big ol’ fine for CBS, Janet Jackson was uninvited from the Grammys after she refused to apologize (Justin Timberlake did), and nearly all of the heat fell on Janet.
The event also set off a run of classic rock performers including Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, and The Who, until the Black Eyed Peas got the call in 2011. Justin himself would headline again in 2018.
However, there’s one former pro athlete and celebrity who thinks that the malfunction was actually a good thing for the NFL…
And it’s no other than future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady.
Brady was actually playing in that game, when the New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers, and he recalled that wild scene while on his Let’s Go podcast alongside Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray:
“I didn’t see much. I’d much rather not see it when I’m playing. Even I remember when we beat Carolina… we came off the field and that was when we had the wardrobe malfunction with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson.
The media was asking me about that. I couldn’t even understand what they were telling me about. They said, ‘Did you see the halftime show?’ and I said, ‘I didn’t see anything.’ I was thinking about the game.”
And that’s when he said that the event was actually a good thing for the NFL:
“It took a while for us to figure out exactly what had gone on. I think in the end, it was probably a good thing for the NFL because everyone got to talk about it, and it was just more publicity and more publicity for halftime shows.
Is any publicity bad publicity? That’s what they say, so, who knows?”
Needless to say, his comments about saying it was a “good thing” has drawn a lot of criticism in the Twitter world:
