“Bad publicity is publicity too”: Tom Brady’s Problematic Comment Claiming Janet Jackson’s Humiliating ‘Nipplegate’ Super Bowl Half Time Show Controversy Was a Good Thing For the Event
This has to be among the most ‘overrated Super Bowl moments’ ever. The actual game has earned praise for being among the most thrilling ones ever seen on a large stage. But it was the halftime show that was the talk of the town.
In 2004, Tom Brady guided the New England Patriots to one of the most exciting Super Bowl wins ever. But when he left the field, the quarterback, who was 26 at the time, was surprised to discover that nobody had much to say about the actual game. Rather, everyone was only gossiping about the infamous ‘wardrobe malfunction’ that occurred at the end of it.
For the unheard, Justin Timberlake tore a piece of fabric off Janet Jackson’s chest at the very end of their performance of Rock Your Body, exposing Jackson’s br**st on live in front of millions of viewers.
However, Tom Brady claimed in an episode of his podcast Let’s Go that he “didn’t see anything.” He was too preoccupied to consider halftime adjustments because he was “thinking about the game.“
Tom Brady finds it a ‘good thing’ that happened to the NFL!
The now-retired Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. aka Tom Brady had some things to say about this awkward yet controversial NFL moment. He said on the Let’s Go! podcast that the move was “probably a good thing for the NFL.”
At first, the former football quarterback recalls not understanding the questions he was posed about the game after the New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers that particular year. When Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction happened, it was after they had left the field, according to Brady. “And they were asking me about that. I couldn’t even understand what they were telling me about.
The moment, which has since become known as “nipplegate,” sparked a massive controversy for the NFL and other companies affiliated with the event. Brady added,
“I think in the end, it [nipplegate] was probably a good thing for the NFL. Because everyone got to talk about it, and it was just more publicity and more publicity for halftime shows.”
He added rhetorically, “Is any publicity bad publicity? That’s what they say, so, who knows?”
The 2004 Super Bowl MVP is not convinced that the incident was bad, at least not for the league, nearly 20 years after the ‘wardrobe malfunction.’
What happened at Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl halftime show
Even casual football viewers will be able to remember the travesty that was the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, featuring pop stars Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. We all learned the terms ‘wardrobe malfunction’ and ‘Nipplegate’ at a time that will likely go down in history as one of the most notorious moments ever.
The Super Bowl halftime show in 2004 largely adhered to the formula that the NFL had established earlier in the decade. That is a production that featured well-known artists of the time and was broadcast on television all over the world. However, there was one particular incident that stood out and is still being talked about, even to this day.
As the performance reached its climax, Justin Timberlake approached Janet Jackson and began to remove a piece of her costume, causing her right br**st to reportedly be seen by the more than 150 million people, live in the stadium and watching on TV. The majority, as one might expect, were shocked; but some people also expressed skepticism about whether what they had just seen was an accident or was instead planned.
The question of whether the incident was pre-planned in an office or among the artists themselves has, in the end, remained a source of controversy despite multiple investigations. Michael Powell, the then-Chairman of the FCC, asserts that the latter is not entirely true.
Source- Tom Brady’s podcast, “Let’s Go.”
