# Super Bowl... was that Janet Jackson's BOOB? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119 "2004-02-02T01:35:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Paul\_The\_Younger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d9b06d/32.png) [@Paul\_The\_Younger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_The_Younger)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/41 "2004-02-02T06:51:49Z")
> [@BabaBooey](#): > > Of course, but until then: > > [http://omarnyc.com:82/mpg/titty.mpeg](http://omarnyc.com:82/mpg/titty.mpeg) Well, if you’re ready to believe that this was a “wardrobe malfunction” (thank you, Justin… :rolleyes: ) then you need to listen to **BabaBooey’s** clip…here’s the last thing the backup singers were singing just before the \*big \* unveiling… **"…better have her nekkid by the end of this song."** Yeah, that was an accident… :rolleyes: You did know she has a new album coming out in the spring, didn’t you? Don’t worry, I’m sure that’s gonna be mentioned a few hundred times over the next few days. I can only hope that this is building on the Britney/Madonna kiss, and that very soon nubile pop stars will be ripping off their clothing and gyrating naked with each other in public almost daily. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Sparky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Saint\_Sparky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Sparky)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/42 "2004-02-02T07:47:03Z")
You know the scariest thing? Janet Jackson now looks fugly… and LaToya looks HOT! (from the Larry King interview). Something is not right in the world when it is this way and not the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/43 "2004-02-02T08:44:15Z")
Why couldn’t someone have ripped off Jessica Simpson’s shirt? ---
**Author:** ![Blassie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@Blassie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blassie)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/44 "2004-02-02T11:34:52Z")
The P.L.I. (People of Limited Intelligence) are going nuts on bitch radio this morning. Oh the horror! CBS and MTV are the devil incarnate! :eek: Lets see, according to the P.L.I., griping about President Bush lying about WMD and getting 500+ soldiers killed in Iraq is just “politics as usual” but Janet Jackson’s bare boob / nipple is (hang on) the LEAD STORY on the top of the hour and half hour news breaks. The dumbing down of America continues. Is was not an accident, BTW. It was on TV = it was not real. ---
**Author:** ![Daylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Daylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/45 "2004-02-02T12:42:06Z")
> [@I Love Me](#): > > And here I am at CBS right now. I wish I could uplink it for you all, but I think that might be frowned upon by my bosses. > > All of us here are getting a good tickle out of it, though. > > Was it intentional?? It sure looked like it to me, but who can say? . . . All I know is that I have seen Janet’s boob, and am unafraid of admitting that I was sexually aroused as a man at the Ford GT commercial. I’ve pretty much laid to rest all my teenage fantasies now…thank you CBS. D. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/46 "2004-02-02T13:20:20Z")
To steal a joke from an Instant Message on _Imus In The Morning_: Did the nipple see it’s shadow? Will we get six more weeks of winter? It’s strange that Fox News has a much bigger pixelilation obscuring their “coverage” of Janet’s nipple than MSNBC does. Then again they seem to trying play up the “outrage” angle more. ---
**Author:** ![Goofus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7feea3/32.png) [@Goofus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goofus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/47 "2004-02-02T13:21:32Z")
At least now we know the reason why CBS refused to air [Moveon.org](http://Moveon.org)’s political commercial. They didn’t want somebody else’s controversy overshadowing _their_ controversy the next day. (cue music) So thank you, Mr. and/or Ms. Hypocritical CBS Executive! Truly, you are a Real Man and/or Woman of Genius™! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/48 "2004-02-02T13:27:20Z")
There has long been speculation that Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson are one and the same person. I think she just wanted to dispell that rumor. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/49 "2004-02-02T13:36:04Z")
Oh, J.J. What happened to the sweetly shy, pretty-if-a-wee-chubby younger sister who wrapped herself right up to the neck in dark turtleneck-and pants outfits? Now thou shall dwell in the Forest of Skank… forever! ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/50 "2004-02-02T13:43:14Z")
I missed it because the rest of the halftime show was so uninteresting, I got distracted by the other television showing elephants being artificially insiminated. Looking back at all the photos and footage this morning, I don’t think I missed all that much. Over the past few years, she’s gotten increasingly unnattractive (check our her face in the picture **cheddarsnax** linked), and I’ve never been a big fan of fake breasts. Her reaction to it was incredibly forced and faked, Justin didn’t look a bit suprised by it, and the whole thing was just one big scam. As has been pointed out, she’s got an album coming up soon, and you know what they say…there’s not such thing as bad publicity. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/51 "2004-02-02T13:44:09Z")
> [@Saint Sparky](#): > > Janet Jackson now looks fugly… and LaToya looks HOT! (from the Larry King interview). Yeah, I thought she looked really haggard in the Drudge photo. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/52 "2004-02-02T13:47:53Z")
> [@Paul The Younger](#): > > Well, if you’re ready to believe that this was a “wardrobe malfunction” (thank you, Justin… :rolleyes: ) then you need to listen to **BabaBooey’s** clip…here’s the last thing the backup singers were singing just before the \*big \* unveiling… > > **"…better have her nekkid by the end of this song."** > > Yeah, that was an accident… :rolleyes: MTV Plausible Deniability theory: Choreographer comes out and claims yes, JT was supposed to tear open the vinyleather outer top after that line, leaving her in a more revealing but still TV-acceptable get-up (sort of a next-step above Mick Jagger ripping off Tina Turner’s skirt at Live Aid) but because of the “wardrobe malfunction”, where something did not break along the designed dotted line, the whole Starboard Mammary Support and Protective Assembly came off. Or at least that would be my story. This is the kind of rationalization that earns me the big bucks IRL… 😃 (That still leaves us with the not really so disturbing idea that JJ wears that nipple sunburst thing routinely.) I guess the difference between the attention to this and the attention to Kid Rock mutilating a US flag says something about the public’s interest… ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/53 "2004-02-02T13:53:54Z")
> [@Obvious Guy](#): > > That was in fact JJ’s boob. I work at a newspaper and I saw a picture from The Associated Press. She was wearing a nipple ring that looks like some torture device taken out of the middle ages. it’s just a nipple shield, obvious guy. I know you work at a newspaper and all, but that’s no excuse for not keeping up. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/54 "2004-02-02T13:55:46Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > How about Hooray For Everything? “Get dancin, dancin, dancin, dancin…” Let’s not forget that wonderful group of wholesome entertainers, “The Grinning Americans”! ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/55 "2004-02-02T13:57:29Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > I guess the difference between the attention to this and the attention to Kid Rock mutilating a US flag says something about the public’s interest… THANK YOU! The flag thing was bugging the hell out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/56 "2004-02-02T13:59:12Z")
> [@seriousart](#): > > What makes me think this is obviously a set up is the double take Janet does post breast exposure. > Seriously,who does a head-spin double take in real life? Not to mention that Justin looks thoroughly unphased by the revealing. > > IMHO, this is just another Spears-Madonna type of publicity stunt. > Most likely, Janet wanted a boost to her ever decreasing ::ahem:: _exposure_ in the media. Any moment now Janet will be appearing in countless magazines and talk shows feigning embarassment over the whole thing. I don’t know that a boob flash will do it. I think the new standard is going to be … labial cleavage. Sooner or later someone’s gonna design a pair of hip huggers that let people see some frontal female genital cleavage. And when they do, the Super Bowl halftime will be there for it. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/57 "2004-02-02T14:19:07Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > MTV Plausible Deniability theory: Choreographer comes out and claims yes, JT was supposed to tear open the vinyleather outer top after that line, leaving her in a more revealing but still TV-acceptable get-up (sort of a next-step above Mick Jagger ripping off Tina Turner’s skirt at Live Aid) but because of the “wardrobe malfunction”, where something did not break along the designed dotted line, the whole Starboard Mammary Support and Protective Assembly came off. [This picture](http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040202/capt.sbx18102020149.super_bowl_sbx181.jpg) leads me to believe that there is no underlayer of clothing. That’s the back of Janet’s S.M.S.a.P.A. we see in Justin’s hand, and the red lace is clearly just trim. ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/58 "2004-02-02T14:19:40Z")
Malfunction, eh? Judging from this not-quite-as-extreme closeup, it was a [snap-on bustier](http://drudgereport.com/jjt.jpg) (Caution, not worksafe)! I’d say it performed its function perfectly. You might have a little trouble seeing the pic. Drudge’s site has been a little slow this morning. Wonder why… So, how does this big hooha over a little boobage on TV play in Europe, I wonder? ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/59 "2004-02-02T14:39:09Z")
I wonder something about the people who were actually shocked and morally outraged – would they have been more or less outraged if her nipple had been entirely bare? That is, which would they consider more obscene – a woman’s normal breast, or a woman’s breast with the nipple obscured by a fetishist piece of hardware that pierces her flesh? ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119/60 "2004-02-02T15:08:02Z")
I can’t answer your question there, but I realize that while I don’t want my theoretical kids seeing that show, I personally wouldn’t have any problem with them seeing a breastfeeding mother at a restaurant, a topless woman on the beach, or a documentary showing topless women from Africa or the Amazon. It’s all about the time and place. Oh yeah, and my husband called during her performance, pre-boob, to settle an argument about Janet’s age. They all thought she looked good, but _they thought she was fifty_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-bowl-was-that-janet-jacksons-boob/227119.md?page=4)