Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show Controversy

Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show Controversy

Super Bowl XXXVIII, which was broadcast live on February 1, 2004 from Houston, Texas on the CBS television network in the United States, was noted for a controversial halftime show in which Janet Jackson's breast, adorned with a nipple shield, was exposed by Justin Timberlake for about half a second, in what was later referred to as a "wardrobe malfunction". The incident, sometimes referred to as Nipplegate, was widely discussed. Along with the rest of the halftime show, it led to an immediate crackdown and widespread debate on perceived indecency in broadcasting. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined CBS a record $550,000, but that fine was appealed and ultimately voided by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2011 ruling.

The incident was ridiculed both abroad and within the United States, with some American commentators seeing the incident as a sign of decreasing morality in the national culture, and the increased regulation of broadcasting raised concerns regarding censorship and free speech in the United States. The FCC increased the fine per indecency violation from $27,500 to $325,000 shortly after the event. The show was produced by MTV and was supposedly themed around the network's Rock the Vote campaign, though the theme was quickly dispensed within the first minute of the show without any mentions after that point. Following the wardrobe incident, the NFL announced that MTV, which also produced the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXV, would never be involved in another halftime show.