Censorship and regulation of broadcasting The incident had a major impact on the entertainment industry and resulted in stricter censorship of sexual content and nudity in American media. Website Soap Opera Central speculated that the fallout from this incident may have had a subtle effect on
daytime television. These television shows are known for "
love in the afternoon" and regularly depict romantic couplings; shortly before the Super Bowl, the
Procter & Gamble soap operas
As the World Turns and
Guiding Light had gone as far as featuring rear male nudity during sexual scenes. After the Super Bowl controversy, FCC commissioner
Michael J. Copps stated that it was time for a crackdown on inappropriate sexual content in daytime television, and indicated that he was reviewing whether soap operas were violating the agency's indecency prohibitions. In
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, correspondent Tom Bearden reported the excerpts from hearings today on regulating broadcast decency. Two other major sporting events that followed the Super Bowl that year also changed their respective halftime shows following the incident. At the
Pro Bowl, which would be played on February 8 at
Aloha Stadium in Hawaii, singer
JC Chasez, a member of boy band 'N Sync as was Timberlake, was to sing the
National Anthem before the game and perform his hit song "
Blowin' Me Up (with Her Love)" at
halftime. However, the NFL did not allow Chasez to perform during halftime due to the sexually suggestive content of his chosen song (even though the game was carried by ESPN, which is not under the content purview of the FCC as it is a cable network, and therefore only self-regulates content as an advertiser-supported service), replacing it with traditional Hawaiian hula dancers. The
2004 NBA All-Star Game also changed its act, despite being broadcast on
TNT (which is not bound by FCC content regulations as a cable network), having halftime performer
Beyoncé perform "
Crazy in Love" instead of "
Naughty Girl", which they feared would incite controversy given its sexual content. Jackson was in attendance at the game, and dressed conservatively. The networks that were to broadcast the
46th Grammy Awards (CBS) and the
76th Academy Awards (ABC), live events scheduled for February 8 and February 29 respectively, enhanced their broadcast delays to accommodate editing of inappropriate video in addition to audio.
Guiding Light edited out nudity from an episode that had already been taped. A week later, the show's
executive producer John Conboy was fired and replaced by
Ellen Wheeler. All nine American network soaps began to impose an unwritten rule of avoiding any sort of risqué adult scenes, and in the months following, editors of soap opera periodical
Soap Opera Digest wrote about how daytime television was losing its steam. Even as late as
Veterans Day (November 11) of 2004, 65 ABC-affiliated stations pre-empted the uncut network presentation of the film
Saving Private Ryan over concerns about the film's violent content and FCC regulations. Benjamin Svetkey of
Entertainment Weekly quoted
L. Brent Bozell III and
Peggy Noonan associating the mass pre-emption of the film with the halftime show incident. The annual
Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was cancelled for that year in reaction to the incident. A petition was filed by a consortium of broadcasters (which included Viacom) and the RIAA over an FCC indecency ruling, regarding
fleeting expletives uttered by
Bono of
U2 when accepting an award at the
60th Golden Globe Awards in 2003. It argued that the FCC had implemented a standard "that would allow it to censor all kinds of things—anything considered blasphemous, coarse or vulgar", and observed that many radio stations, especially
rock-formatted stations, had been engaging in self-censorship by censoring or removing songs from their libraries, so that they would not run afoul of the stricter regulation.
Clear Channel Communications removed talk-radio host
Howard Stern from several of its large-market radio stations within a month of the incident, citing the raunchy content of Stern's show. The FCC fined Clear Channel over allegedly indecent content on the
Bubba the Love Sponge radio show. As a result of the incident, some networks established regulations requiring time delays of as much as five minutes for live broadcasts such as
awards shows and sporting events. In late 2004, the
United States House of Representatives passed a bill to raise the maximum FCC fine penalty from said US$27,500 to US$500,000 per violation; the
United States Senate voted to decrease it to US$275,000 per incident, with a cap of US$3 million per day. The incident also prompted tighter control over content by station owners and managers. Viacom, at the center of the controversy, also employed the controversial Howard Stern in its radio division (at the time called
Infinity Broadcasting). The expanding control on content is said to be a contributing factor that drove Stern away from
terrestrial radio and onto
Sirius Satellite Radio, and is sometimes credited as the media figure most responsible for introducing a new era in radio. Author Frederick S. Lane stated in an interview with John Eggerton of
Broadcasting & Cable magazine that the controversy surrounding the halftime show was the primary inspiration for his 2006 book
The Decency Wars: The Campaign to Cleanse American Culture, which explains moral controversies in the American media over the years. Beginning with
Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005, the halftime show began to be produced by
Don Mischer Productions and White Cherry Entertainment; those shows contained classic rock artists who mainly performed songs from the 1970s and 1980s (with a notable exception being
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing their 2008 single "
Working on a Dream" during the
Super Bowl XLIII halftime show in 2009). This practice ended after
Super Bowl XLIV in 2010; beginning with
Super Bowl XLV in 2011, the halftime performance returned to having pop artists. In 2012, during the halftime show for
Super Bowl XLVI, rapper
M.I.A. pointed up her middle finger during her performance. That incident drew comparisons with the exposure of Janet Jackson's breast in the Super Bowl halftime show eight years prior. The Associated Press asserted that people learned what M.I.A. did only when reports surfaced in the media and quoted TV critic
James Poniewozik: "I had no idea she even did it until NBC issued an apology for it." NBC blurred the entire screen albeit a second too late to obscure M.I.A. giving the finger. The NFL ultimately sued M.I.A. for US$1.5 million on
breach of contract grounds. As an indication of the reduced level of complaints, only 222 complaints were filed over the incident.
Sports broadcasting Sports would be greatly affected by the controversy. Three weeks later,
NASCAR stiffened penalties on use of improper language or gestures including larger fines, loss of points (if it occurred in a post-race interview or after the driver fell out of a race), ejection of a team from the race, or lap penalties (if in-race) under the circuit's "detrimental to NASCAR" rule.
Johnny Sauter was fined US$10,000 and 25 points a week after the new rule took effect for obscene language in an interview. Later in 2004,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. received a 25-point penalty and a US$50,000 fine when he used an obscenity after winning the 2004
EA Sports 500 at
Talladega Superspeedway. He lost the championship lead after that incident and lost the championship by 100 points. In 2007,
Tony Stewart received a similar penalty after using an obscenity in a post-race interview following his
Brickyard 400 win.
Kyle Busch, in November 2010, was fined US$25,000 for an obscene gesture caught on ESPN, along with an in-race two-lap penalty, as the gesture was aimed at a NASCAR official. The NFL also came under some smaller controversies over its telecasts. The FCC received a complaint about Fox's telecast of a January 2005 playoff game between the
Green Bay Packers and
Minnesota Vikings; the complainant alleged that Minnesota player
Randy Moss, who scored a touchdown, apparently made movements appearing to
moon the spectators. However, the FCC denied the complaint because Moss was fully clothed at all times, and his gestures were shown for only a few seconds, thus warranting that the display was not indecent; game commentator
Joe Buck also immediately condemned the act (and additionally, Moss was fined by the NFL). On January 13, 2007, during Fox's coverage of an NFL playoff game between the
New Orleans Saints and
Philadelphia Eagles, the camera cut to the stands, showing for four seconds a shirt with the words "
Fuck DA EAGLES" that was worn by a female spectator. That drew a backlash from the Parents Television Council, which filed complaints with the FCC.
2004 presidential election Frederick S. Lane argued in his 2006 book
The Decency Wars that the Super Bowl halftime show controversy influenced the primary focus on "moral values" and "media decency" in the
2004 Democratic Party primaries. Jackson claimed the incident was used in the media as a diversion for President George W. Bush's poor approval ratings and the
Iraq War, with Bush and
First Lady Laura Bush giving public commentary on the incident rather than focusing on other issues. Jackson was intended to appear at the
46th Grammy Awards, which was being held the following week and televised by CBS, but her invitation was withdrawn due to the incident. Jackson was originally scheduled to appear as a presenter for a tribute to
Luther Vandross, performed by
Celine Dion,
Richard Marx and
Alicia Keys, and was chosen due to previously collaborating with Vandross on the number-one hit "
The Best Things in Life Are Free". According to
People Magazine, Jackson "had been slated to speak before the accolade but was being pressured to bow out gracefully—or face being uninvited", before later being completely barred from attending. However, Timberlake was still allowed to attend and perform at the event. Both Jackson and Timberlake were initially disinvited and later re-invited under the condition that they agree to apologize on air. The majority of the artists at the ceremony were also asked to comment on Jackson's incident. Jackson's long-time producer Jimmy Jam during a pre-Grammy party "Last time I talked to her about it, she was up in the air about it", Jam told CNN. "She was literally sitting on the fence about whether she was going to come or not, or whether she was going to sit back and watch it on TV.". Jackson had also been cast to play
Lena Horne in a movie about the singer and activist's life, which was to be produced by ABC, but was forced to resign following the performance incident. The blacklisting affected promotion of Janet Jackson's first album released since the incident
Damita Jo—her eighth studio album. A majority of the reviews for the album, including those by
AllMusic, the
BBC,
Entertainment Weekly,
The Guardian and
The New York Times focused on the negative backlash suffered by Jackson as a result of the incident but gave favorable reviews to the album itself. Despite the blacklisting,
Damita Jo was a success and certified
Platinum, selling over three million copies worldwide and also receiving a Grammy nomination. Singles from the album like "
Just a Little While" and "
All Nite (Don't Stop)" reached #1 on the
Hot Dance Club Songs chart. Although the following albums
20 Y.O. and
Discipline received positive reception, their performance was affected by the blacklist. However,
20 Y.O. managed to sell over 1.5 million copies worldwide, was certified Platinum in the US and received a Grammy nomination. Additionally, "
Feedback" reached the top 20 pop hit on the
Billboard Hot 100, selling one million copies worldwide. Subsequent releases "
Make Me" peaked atop the
Hot Dance Club Songs and top 20 internationally; "
Nothing" reached #1 on the digital pop and music video charts, also considered for an
Oscar nomination. In her first interview since the incident, Jackson appeared on CBS's
Late Show with David Letterman on March 29, 2004, which increased the show's ratings over 20%. In April 2004, Jackson poked fun at herself in an appearance on
Saturday Night Live, first while playing
Condoleezza Rice in a skit, nervously answering a question by exposing her right breast (which was
pixelated by NBC), and again by viewing a mock home video from her childhood in which her bathing suit top came off in a wading pool, calling it a "swimsuit malfunction". An NBC spokesman said Jackson was wearing a bra beneath her blouse during the skit. During a performance on ABC's
Good Morning America, the network promoted Jackson's appearance as her "first live performance since the Super Bowl", hinting at the chance of shock value.
Impact on Timberlake People Magazine stated Timberlake was referred to as "the
Teflon man" at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards because the incident did not affect him as it did Jackson. In a 2006 interview with MTV, Timberlake said that compared to the huge backlash Jackson suffered, he himself received only about 10% of the blame; and he accused American society of being both "harsher on women" and "unfairly harsh on ethnic people". Prior to plans for the Super Bowl performance, Jackson and Timberlake had discussed potentially recording a duet for Jackson's
Damita Jo album, as well as a rumored collaboration for a
Quincy Jones album, though neither came to fruition. In November 2013, Timberlake performed a cover of Jackson's "
Let's Wait Awhile" on
The 20/20 Experience World Tour before transitioning into one of his songs, which was regarded as a sign of affection or apology to Jackson. Media commentators stated Jackson was treated too harshly by the media and public, while Timberlake's career was not affected much by the incident. Shannon L. Holland in ''
Women's Studies in Communication'' argued that the media reaction after the incident focused disproportionately on Jackson, "represent[ing] her as a contemporary
Jezebel in that her racial and gendered Otherness was often juxtaposed with the 'normalcy' of Timberlake's white masculinity. That is, she emerged in a public discourse as the primary (if not sole) instigator of the lewd act, a scheming seductress who manipulated Timberlake for her own economic gain." Rob Sheffield of
Rolling Stone stated "Justin isn't exactly Mr. Loyalty—he totally left Janet Jackson to take the heat after the Super Bowl.'" E! Online also commented "Timberlake wasted no time placing the bulk of the blame for the incident on Jackson. And, of course, the woman takes the blame even though the man stripped her. Pathetically typical." One observer claimed "Despite her 'wardrobe malfunction'—for which we think Justin Timberlake wasn't punished nearly as severely for—Janet put on a pretty amazing show."
The New York Times noted "[a]fter her right breast upstaged the Super Bowl, she was criticized by the first lady, vilified by media executives and abandoned by her co-conspirator, Justin Timberlake; less excitable commentators suggested she was merely a shrewd publicity-stunt woman with a new album to promote." Timberlake would eventually be given a "second chance", being invited back to the Super Bowl halftime show when he was named headlining act for the
Super Bowl LII halftime show in February 2018. During his performance, Timberlake again sang a portion of "Rock Your Body", but stopped right before reaching the "Gonna have you naked by the end of this song" lyric, saying "Hold up! Stop!" and smiling, as an apparent reference to the 2004 incident. Timberlake's halftime show stint, however, received mixed reviews and ratings declined after losing more than 10 million viewers in the United States from the
Lady Gaga-headlined edition the year prior. On June 12, 2009, in an interview with
Entertainment Weekly, Timberlake stated his biggest regret of the decade was not defending Janet Jackson more after the media backlash. "I wish I had supported Janet more. I am not sorry I apologised, but I wish I had been there more for Janet," he said. On February 12, 2021, after social media backlash from the documentary
Framing Britney Spears aired, Timberlake publicly apologized to both
Britney Spears and Janet Jackson in an Instagram post, pledging to "take accountability" and that "I can do better and I will do better." ==Popular culture==