Music

Janet Jackson and CBS won't be fined for 2004's infamous "wardrobe malfunction"

by Tyler Munro

Quick question: who here, off the top of their head, can remember who won Super Bowl XXXVIII? Better yet, who hear can even tell us which year it was?

Don’t worry, we’ll tell you. It was 2004, and the New England Patriots won it. Tom Brady was the MVP.

Here’s why we’re asking: February 1, 2004 is a most people probably remember, just not for the right reasons. It’s the day then-musician ripped Janet Jackson’s boob out of her top in front of hundreds-of-millions of casual football fans’ significant others (because, let’s be honest, most football fans use the half-time show as a time to reload on chips and beer).

The now infamous wardrobe malfunction sent nipples ripples through the nation, forcing the FCC to implement new, delayed live feeds and resulting in Jackson and CBS being fined hundreds of thousands of dollars respectively. A ruling that, according to the recently settled court case, should never have happened. Pushing past all the legal jargon, the gist of it is that the courts ruled that the FCC arbitrarily and without merit fined Jackson and CBS in the wake of public pressure. While the FCC was obviously upset with the ruling, perhaps hoping that, had it gone otherwise, they’d be making an enforced stand against sun-shaped pasties on national television, the folks at CBS were obviously pleased with how it all went down.

“We are gratified that once again the court has ruled in our favour. We are hopeful that this will help lead the FCC to return to the policy of restrained indecency enforcement it followed for decades,” said the network in a statement.

And, if you’re wondering why they said “once again ruled in our favour,” that’s because this is the second time the courts have ruled against the FCC. The fines were first voided in 2008, a ruling that was then overturned by the Supreme Court. Here’s hoping they don’t undo it again: let’s be honest, when it comes to CBS the US government has bigger fish to fry. Namely getting Big Bang Theory off the air. That show is just awful. [via The Wrap]