1. NIPPLEGATE
The Super Bowl is as American as apple pie. Flashing a bare breast on live TV during the Super Bowl, however, is not. That was quickly proven during the big game's Feb. 1, 2004, halftime show when Justin Timberlake tore off part of duet partner Janet Jackson's leather bodice, revealing a nipple-shield-adorned boob. With nearly 90 million people watching, many of them children, the incident became a flash point for family-values groups who had long argued that Hollywood was polluting kids' minds — and now they had proof. Timberlake apologized for the ''wardrobe malfunction,'' as did Jackson, who claimed the tearaway bra was ''an accident.'' But that did little to stop the ensuing tempest in a C-cup, which continued to make headlines throughout the year. The FCC issued CBS a $550,000 fine, politicians threatened bills that would ratchet up the punishment for future offensive broadcasts, and frightened radio stations began deleting naughty titles — e.g., Elton John's ''The Bitch Is Back'' — from their playlists.
CAREER IMPACT: MAJOR CBS would only allow Jackson and Timberlake to attend the Grammys if they apologized on the broadcast (she declined; he agreed). Jackson was also forced to withdraw as the lead of a planned ABC biopic on Lena Horne, and the Super Bowl controversy didn't help her 8th studio CD, Damita Jo (released weeks later), which sold just under a million. For reasons oft debated (racism? sexism? sheer popularity?), Timberlake emerged from the bra-haha unscathed.
Want more Hollywood drama? Read about Celebrity Scandals 26-50, then go over to our PopWatch blog and tell us what you think we missed.
WRITTEN AND REPORTED BY Jennifer Armstrong, Mandi Bierly, Jennifer Boeth, Will Bottinick, Jason Clark, Aubry D'Arminio, Nicholas Fonseca, Henry Goldblatt, Leah Greenblatt, Vanessa Juarez, Dave Karger, Gregory Kirschling, Carrie Klein, Jeff Labrecque, Derek Manson, Michael J. Powe, Ansley Roan, Michael Slezak, Dan Snierson, Lindsay Soll, Nick Spagnoli, Nicole Sperling, Christine Spines, Tim Stack, Tanner Stransky, Gary Susman, Alice Lee Tebo, Adam B. Vary, Simon Vozick-Levinson, Alynda Wheat, Chris Willman, Josh Wolk
