I'll admit that I didn't really understand what was going on in the game. I think that the team for which the majority of our class was cheering actually lost. What caught my attention . . . And I'm sure that I'm not the only one . . . was the halftime show.
I should have been wary just from the fact that MTV was hosting it (they ruined the latest Spider-Man cartoon . . . Blast them!). However, Janet Jackson has a beautiful voice, so I watched. Somebody commented that Janet is Michael's "secret identity," as that person had never seen the two of them together in one place before. We recommended that he watch the video to the song "Scream" from the mid-nineties, then continued to watch.
Nelly performed "It's Getting Hot in Here, So Take Off All Your Clothes," which ended up becoming somewhat ironic. Janet performed again, then gyrated with Justin Timberlake while he sang. And then it happened . . ..
He ripped her breast out of her top.
It was quick. The lights went out and the camera switched away almost immediately, but anybody who was watching could see it. I looked at the three year-old boy who was in the room with us . . . The son of our hosts . . . to see if he'd been scarred by what had happened. He was, at the time, looking at the television. Since he had been chasing a ball around with two other boys (both of whom, thankfully, had left the room), I couldn't be sure if he'd been looking at the television at the precise moment of the "unveiling." But this isn't the point.
The Super Bowl is one of the most watched events of the year. Millions of people tune in and a high percentage of these are impressionable boys who look at it as a bonding time with their dads. How many six or seven year-old boys caught that glimpse of Janet Jackson's breast? How many parent's have to explain to their children that it is NOT okay for a man to just rip a woman's clothes off in public?
The NFL has commented that they are not pleased with what happened and will not be allowing MTV to produce another halftime show. This is a wise move on their part. However, Justin has simply stated that it was a problem with her top. "I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl,� Timberlake said. �It was not intentional and is regrettable."
Yeah . . .RIGHT.
Formal apologies have been issued by both CBS and MTV. I might believe the former but, considering MTV's track record, I'm disinclined to consider their apology sincere. The apologies don't really matter. As far as those millions of young football fans are concerned, the damage has been done.