Free Republic

Complaints Pour in to FCC Over Super Bowl FlashFri February 06, 2004 06:10 PM ET By Peter Kaplan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Upset television viewers have filed more than 200,000 complaints about Janet Jackson's breast-baring performance at the Super Bowl, a record for the Federal Communication Commission, officials said on Friday. Gripes over the flash of Jackson's breast last Sunday easily eclipsed the FCC's previous record -- 80,000 complaints that came after television actress Nicole Richie used a curse word on the 2003 Billboard Music Awards, the agency said. "The vast majority express outrage that this occurred during a family...

Now even Justin is mad at Janet. Justin Timberlake is telling friends Janet Jackson blindsided him with the last-second, breast-baring addition to their Super Bowl act, sources said yesterday. The pop stars' tiff over Sunday's bosom bombshell came as the head of MTV, which produced the halftime show for CBS, blamed Jackson for the peep show seen by an audience of 89 million. "Janet Jackson engineered it," MTV Chief Executive Tom Freston said. "We were Punk'd by Janet Jackson." As fallout over the flop-out grew yesterday, Timberlake was claiming to pals he was bamboozled by Jackson. "She lied to him,"...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Singer Janet Jackson (news) masterminded the Super Bowl halftime stunt that left her right breast exposed and prompted a federal probe into television indecency, the head of MTV said on Tuesday. "Janet Jackson engineered it," MTV Chief Executive Tom Freston told Reuters in an interview. The blame on Jackson comes on a second day of fallout after pop idol Justin Timberlake (news) tore off half of Jackson's black leather bustier while the pair were singing a duet, exposing her right breast at the conclusion of Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show. Freston, whose company produced the...

The chief federal regulator of broadcasting said Monday he is "outraged" by the Super Bowl halftime show which wound up with singer Justin Timberlake tearing off part of Janet Jackson's costume, exposing her breast. Timberlake blamed a "wardrobe malfunction," but Federal Communications Commission chief Michael Powell called it "a classless, crass and deplorable stunt." MTV, which produced the show, and CBS, which broadcast it, both said they had no idea that their halftime show Sunday night would include such a display. "CBS deeply regrets the incident," spokeswoman LeslieAnne Wade said. The two singers were performing a flirtatious duet to end...

HOUSTON, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The tearing of Janet Jackson's costume was unrehearsed, unplanned, completely unintentional and was inconsistent with assurances we had about the content of the performance. MTV regrets this incident occurred and we apologize to anyone who was offended by it.