This will make me sound very old, but I always associate the Justin Timberlake-Janet Jackson Super Bowl scandal with the Iraq War. It happened about… what? Nine or ten months after America and the “Coalition of the Willing” invaded Iraq, and the war was quickly descending into a gigantic clusterf–k. Even back then, I was one person among many who believed that Fox News in particular used the JT-Janet Super Bowl scandal as a “bread and circuses” controversy to distract from the Iraq War mission creep and escalating clusterf–k. It seems almost f–king quaint to look back on it now and realize that for weeks on end, we were being force-fed all of these news segments about what happened and who was to blame and what kind of penalties there should be… and yes, I’m talking about Janet and JT, not the fact that there were no WMDs.
In the 14 years that followed, Janet Jackson has still had a career, but her career has never really been the same. She got thrown under the bus by everybody, including Justin. Justin flashed a simpering smile, threw out a rehearsed line about a “wardrobe malfunction” and his career went on. Hell, the controversy made him even more famous and popular. And in the past 14 years, he’s barely said one word about Janet. Because he’s rarely even been asked. Now that Justin is returning as this year’s Super Bowl Half-Time performer, he’s finally getting some questions. And his answers are no bueno.
Whether the 2004 performance was brought up when he signed on for this year’s Half-Time show: “Naturally, that’s something we talked about. To be honest, it wasn’t too much of a conversation. It’s just one of those things where you go like, ‘Yeah what do you want me to say? We’re not going to do that again.’”
How he responded to the wardrobe malfunction in real time: “Yeah and I stumbled through it, to be quite honest. I had my wires crossed, and it’s just something that you have to look back on and go, like, OK, well you know, you can’t change what’s happened but you can move forward and learn from it.”
Whether he was able to “resolve the situation” with Janet: “Absolutely…And I don’t know that a lot of people know that. I don’t think it’s my job to do that because you value the relationships that you do have with people.”
“I had my wires crossed” – that’s as close as he’ll come to taking responsibility for what happened, and look what happens in the next breath – he absolves himself by characterizing it as a learning experience. Yeah, Janet Jackson lost millions of dollars in potential revenue, touring, album sales but at least Justin learned a lesson, so it’s cool. I’m also SMH at “I don’t think it’s my job” to let people know that he and Janet resolved their sh-t. Ugh.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I hate him.
That’s all.
#TeamJanetForeverandEver
This. 110%.
Ditto! His eyes creep me out. He looks batshitcrazy
Ditto, Tiffany.
Same. I loathe him so much the rage rendered me unable to read his response. I had to scroll down to Kaiser’s summary.
Same AF! He is such a pathetic punk who only cares about himself. He even took attention away from his wife’s Golden Globe moment by releasing his single on the very weekend she was getting recognized for her work!
THIS. I’ve gotten off the JT train in the last few years. So insufferable
Never one to miss a chance to exploit a more famous woman’s controversy (HI BRITNEY, I BET WADE ROBSON WAS BETTER IN BED, WASN’T HE?!) for attention and sales, this one. He’s never addressed the fact that he was a guest of Janet’s stage and this was how he thanked her for the opportunity. Gross, gross, opportunist, gross.
yes girl can’t stand him. Always he made sure to discuss his life with Brit when he first two albums were released. Made fun of Your Royal Badness Prince at the Golden Globes.
I cannot stand him either.
Thanks for the history lesson JT just in time to promote your new music.
P.S who cares and please go away.
This, completely.
Once a douchebag, always a douchebag.
That is the face of an a**hole. Can’t stand him.
He is such a crap person.
His eyes always seem bugged out drugged our. Go away forever. Bring Janet back for halftime. The white man gets another chance in an endless sea of chances … gross. I won’t be watching.
GTFOH.
#NeverForget
to think that i used to crush on him when he was part of N’Sync? And during cry me a river.
But what a disappointment he has turned out to be. As a person and on a shallow note, in the looks department.
I remember how i gasped when he tore off part of her top. I could not believe that happened. And I still cannot believe that people thought it a good idea during the Superbowl, which is basically a family program. Smh.
I was just about to type the same thing. I loved him in N’Sync, had his posters on my wall growing up and think his first two solo albums are just amazing pop albums, but his personality is just so ugh! It really is disappointing.
Cry me a river came out when I was in college and my girlfriends and I would watch the video, on our desk top computers lol, over and over and over again. LOVED HIM! I’ve been sooo over him the last ten plus years though. One of my friends though who is I think 32 is still so obsessed with him. She thinks everything he puts out and touches is gold. She goes to all of his tours and thinks he’s the best actor and super funny. She also posts all of her admiration on social media so this is how I know and I seriously don’t get it.
If America had let the superior NSync-er prosper, JC Chasez, like I was advocating in high school, we wouldn’t be dealing with this nonsense today.
PS: I will acknowledge that without him we wouldn’t have Yoncé, but still.
It should have been JC.
Joshua Scott Chasez was definitely the prettiest and most talented of the group! (I was a wee bit obsessed back in the day….)
Yes!!!
YES! JC is my favorite and was and is the better singer!
Yes JC was the heart and soul and better singer of NYsync but instead they hyped up the blond blue eyed member. Oh and that Britney thing.
Hahaha! He is such a weasel. 🙄
It was around the Iraq War that’s right. I just remember for months afterwards my friends and I (I’m Canadian) were mocking Americans for having a complete meltdown because they kind of sort of saw part of a breast from a distance. Sorry, but the hysteria was completely pathetic.
It was a long time before I realized the long term damage it caused to Janet.
I remember being hysterical….for Janet.
I knew what was coming for her and it still upsets me to this day.
I felt the same way! I watched it with friends and at the time it aired, it happened so fast that we just looked at each other and said “was that supposed to happen? Was that her boob?”
On a big screen tv you really couldn’t make out any details. It wasn’t until the news channels played it back in super slow-motion, zoomed in close, yet still blurry with descriptions and seperate photos of her nipple ring and “expert testimony” about her breast implants that people became convinced that they had, in fact, all totally seen her nipple.
I was surprised by the Puritan response to the whole thing. I was also surprised at how it seemed that nobody in America was embarrassed by such an extremely repressive, sexist, unhealthy reaction to viewing a blurry split-second of another human’s anatomy.
It’s interesting that this has resurfaced now. I remember wondering how long it would take for media outlets to get beyond the nudity/wardrobe malfunction conversation to talk about the real issue – choreographing, normalizing, violence.
And 1, 2, 3, pivot, rape, twist, repeat… people fretted for months about how much breast is too much breast. But too much violence? Nah.
So remind me, was he supposed to do that or did he literally rip her top off without her permission? I always assumed Janet was in on it, this the nipple jewelry. If she wasn’t that was an assault and no one should have anything to do with this guy.
Oh it was planned. About two weeks before they were on ET or Access Hollywood giggling about some “secret “ thing they had planned for the show. Then when the reaction wasn’t “ooo coolest, most bada$$, halftime ever!” JT was in the wind, leaving Janet to deal with the backlash. He offered no support for her, a total coward. SMH
Of course it was planned. Hence the reason she had the nipple cover on. He totally left he twisting in the wind. Once a turd, always a turd. He’s a big old floater, that guy.
I don’t watch the Super Bowl, but if I did I would turn away during the Half Time Show.
JJ career didn’t go downhill just becase of the super bowl fiasco, her career was already on the downward slope due to new artist, and different types of music that people had started to listen to and so on. JT career kept on moving becase he had recently became a solo act and this was his first solo album and he was fresh off NSync. His star was still rising while JJ light was already starting to dim.
Also that crap was planned by her and JT. Maybe they both should just go ahead and admitt it. She had her nipple fully covered with that huge ass ring and how would he know to rip something off in that exact spot. Soon as the end of the song said have you naked by the end of this song he ripped that piece of wardrobe from her breast area. Their plan just went horribly wrong and JJ took most of the heat.
And lastly these pearl clutching Americans need to take several seats. They saw a breast but the nipple was covered. Oh my God the horror. And yeah yeah, children watch the show and all those freaking excuses. Children can see breast whenever they want, I know 7 year olds with phones and if they have access to the web, they can see breast. Kids saw no more than what they would see when mommy breast feed. I know women who have breast feed their kids up to the age of 4 or 5. My friend just stopped breastfeeding her son and he is 4.
If you think the uproar was about people seeing a breast, you really missed the point.
I’m not American and in the middle of a despised war we saw the outrage for this event as excessive but as I mentioned before I am not from the USA so I am curious to know which was the real problem with all this situation.
Tbh I always thought it was something planned by both of them since Janet had this piece of jewelry attached to nipple of the exposed breast.
What was it about then, if not that? At the time I really struggled to see what the big deal was, and I still do.
If you scroll down you’ll see that I posted specifically what it was about.
Bridget I tried to give a more detail answer.
Anyways I disagree with what you said below. This was about those two making a horrible decision and it backfiring on them as well as people making it more of a bigger deal than they should have.
OK, well you know, you can’t change what’s happened but you can move forward and learn from it.”
Which like, I absolutely did, because like, it is important because it was really about me and how it affected me, not her. And like, she’s fine, we’re fine, I’m sure that’s fine and everything.
What a smug pos.
This wasn’t just about a moment in a song and a mostly covered breast. It was a flashpoint in an era that coincided directly with a huge conservative movement in “American Values”. It didn’t just replace discussion of the spectacularly screwed up Iraq invasion, it was what people talked about in place of the Patriot Act and John Ashcroft’s attempt to strip away freedoms.
And Janet took ALL the heat. Justin scuttled away while Janet was blackballed, while FCC fines were levied, while she was ripped right and left. That’s sure nice that “they’re good”. Douche.
You’re right. He’s slimy and duplicitous and self involved and self serving. And he’s a big liar. And this was all based on everyone going bonkers because conservatives at the time hated a bare boob. IMO Janet shares a lot of the lying slimy attributes, but it wasn’t fair she took all that heat over what suckles mankind. Such horsesh*t. And, IMO Janet’s career had already stalled. I was a huge fan in the 80s but she was never a great singer, and she was never versatile. At that time Justin had his breakout album which was like Janet’s CONTROL album. It was really good. Since he’s fizzled like Janet but still managed to put out some top tens. Everything about him is fake though. Even his marriage
It might’ve stalled, but it might not have. The problem is, only one person ended up facing consequences in this debacle.
You know what they say about opinions…viva la difference. IMO her career was not stalled, but doomed to vegas. That’s not a bad thing. Great talent arrives in vegas, but she just never really was a great talent. She was reared by a showbiz fam and as such can entertain. But imo, not a great artist. She’d have come back by now had she a great desire. I don’t like her anymore. I find her unnecessarily sneaky…but, to be fair, it may have been her defense in a difficult family and being thrust into a lot of BS…unlike the Kardashians who lie and manipulate because they had a mom that taught them nothing else
This boy hid and let her take the heat which included lost revenue and business but he “learned a lesson”. Oh yes, you’re going to learn a lesson all right. He’ll get his, and when it happens I’ll be there sippin my tea like Wendy Williams in her purple chair.
Never forget him crying to his Mother on Punk’d.
Never forget.
That episode is classic! Such a punk lol
Buhahahahaha. Let’s all post that on his twitter account!!! It will be the new JT snake emoji in video lol
“They took my dogs”
I was a law professor back then. They rehearsed the Super Bowl halftime show in my school’s stadium which was around the corner from my office. I heard that damn song at top volume multiple times per day for over two weeks.
I also nearly slapped JT at the Paris Casino in May 2001. It’s a long story, but he has no concept of personal space. The only reason I did not do so was that he had several large bodyguards with him.
Janet has clearly suffered more as a result of Nipplegate, but some of us still bear scars!
I can state with absolute truth that I’ve never heard a song with Timberlake all the way through at any time in his career. I find him completely uninteresting as a person and as an entertainer.
Besides all the crap person he is. He’s aged like cottage cheese lmao.
I really can’t stand him.. even his face bugs me.
Justin, please feel free to drop dead anytime. Thanks. Sincerely, the World.
F*ck him. And I won’t believe he and Janet “resolved” anything until she says so.
Also remember how they showed a “gag” video montage at his wedding of homeless people congratulating him and Biel?
A garbage person.
I have hated him since the Janet situation and felt so alone because the zeitgeist seemed to think he was soooo funny, hosting SNL and all that crap. I love it that it seems that the gig is up.
I think Janet will be making a guest appearance during his halftime show. How could they NOT capitalize on that?