According to the New York Times, Janet Jackson has been unjustly deprived of accolades and esteem because of the scandalous event known as “nipplegate” in which a piece of her wardrobe fell away from her breast while Justin Timberlake was trying to put it back during a performance at the Superbowl in 2004.
No– the act was Justin Timberlake pulling the wardrobe away from her breast. But what was supposed to happen– after the audience got their titillation out of the way– was that the pulled away fabric would just reveal more fabric.
The Superbowl is already a triviality, a monument to nothingness, a mammoth orgy of absurdly boring sport and vulgarity. The half-time performances are already obscene: most artists lip-sync and gyrate to inane pop inanities while tanned boobie commentators ravish them with praise.
The song Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake was performing was about getting somebody naked. Why was that acceptable but the real thing was not? Because there is nothing in the world more appealing to hypocrites than titillation– literally! The enjoyment of things they believe to be taboo without the actual thing. Janet Jackson’s sin was that for a brief moment she dispelled the illusion that millions of viewers thinking deeply about tits would be exposed as actually thinking deeply about tits. The secret about “nipplegate” is that the real offense was exposing just how dirty America’s minds really are. Someone will have to be crucified in order to expunge this dirty secret and restore middle-America’s sense of respect and decency! I will not tolerate a naked breast on tv! I am a moral person! But, go ahead and dance and wiggle your clothed hips and sing about getting naked– I love it– but I am a decent, moral person who will only vote for non-outed political candidates.
Was there “blame”? What are you talking about? They were doing exactly what the audience wanted. The costumes, the lyrics, the gyrations, the rhythm– all were aimed at creating the largest sense of arousal possible while pretending to be enjoying the music and the artistry– and the sport– instead.
Shunned because of “nipplegate”? I am astonished that anyone really cares about the wardrobe malfunction, for many reasons:
- it was trivial– there is nothing horrifying about the human body, to children or adults;
- Janet Jackson is trivial: there is not, among her products, not a single performance of anything, that matters in any sense: she is merely a pop artist of no particular originality or insight;
- attributing indifference to an artist who is a woman and black can’t always be blamed on the fact that she is a woman and black: for heaven’s sake, she never was or is anything other than a pop artist of mediocre achievements;
- how did she get to be an artist in the first place? Did someone in the music industry notice this very talented singer somewhere and decide she should be a star? Or, could she have had some privileged connections? Do you need to ask?
- Even Janet Jackson, or mediocre artistic achievement, deserves better than to be treated like that for a trivial indiscretion, even if it was intentional or her fault.
The Bush Administration tried to punish CBS for not preventing the mishap. Last I heard, the courts had thrown out the case.