Was it a deliberate publicity stunt or an unfortunate mishap? In 2004 more than 90 million viewers tuned in and saw the half-time Super Bowl show featuring Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake who serenaded us with Justin Timberlake's "Dance With Me," but the end of their performance saw Justin pull down his co-star's bustier to reveal her exposed breast to the world. It was certainly a controversial showstopper. Jackson has since fiercely denied it being deliberate and is quoted saying she felt Timberlake had left her hanging out there while all guilty fingers were pointed towards her embellished starburst nipple shield. She also told People Magazine that she didn't know what all the fuss was about stating: "So much more important things were going on in the world... and the focus was on my breast? That didn't make sense to me." Her album Dametri Jo, was released soon after and performed poorly thanks to a blacklisting campaign that also meant that she was banned from attending the MTV Video Music Awards and the Grammy Awards (but not Timberlake.) It may have ruined Janet's reputation but Nipplegate did have its perks: since 2004 it is the most viewed video in history however back in 2004, when a 25 year old Jawed Karim could not easily access the Nipplegate video clip online he decided to invent a video sharing site that was quick and simple. He and a couple of friends invented YouTube, the largest video-sharing site of all time. TiVo also revelled in the aftermath of Nipplegate after it enrolled 35,000 new customers in the wake of the event and to this day it remains the most watched video in TiVo history.
Rosie is a Music Journalist from Newcastle upon Tyne, with a huge passion for live music. When she's not attending gigs she loves to star gaze, drink pints of tea and play the viola.
