“New York Times”
“Nipplegate” scandal: New documentary defends Janet Jackson – but she doesn’t want it at all
Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at the 2004 Super Bowl
© Hahn Lionel/ABACA / Picture Alliance
In a new documentary, the “New York Times” explains one of the biggest television scandals of the noughties: the so-called “Nipplegate”. Janet Jackson doesn’t seem to be a fan of the film. Although it turns out in their favor.
Sometimes it happens that years later a scandal is seen with completely different eyes. A prominent example is “Nipplegate”.
When Justin Timberlake bared Janet Jackson’s breasts on the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004, it caused an outcry in prudish America, after all, children were also watching. In a country where every “shit” is beeped, the scandal that followed was hardly surprising.
Documentary about “Nipplegate”
And yet “Nipplegate” is judged differently today. Because the faux pas mainly had consequences for one: Janet Jackson. The whole thing passed relatively unnoticed by Justin Timberlake. The New York Times documentary “Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson” gets to the bottom of this imbalance and reveals how Jackson subsequently became persona non grata.
So actually good for Michael Jackson’s sister. One thinks. But according to her former stylist, Wayne Scot Lukas, Jackson feels differently about the film. “She wants this documentary to go away. She didn’t ask for a ‘Free Janet’ documentary. She’s not interested,” he told Page Six. This year, the New York Times drew attention to the Free Britney movement with its film Framing Britney Spears. Lukas and other participants were probably asked to help with the workup. “She asked us not to do it. She wants to tell her story herself,” he clarified.
Janet Jackson wants to tell her story
This could indicate that Jackson is working on her own documentary or something. She had enough to tell. Because she had the greatest damage after “Nipplegate”. Despite being forced into a public video apology emphasizing it wasn’t planned, she was persona non grata for many industry figures. Various companies, including Viacom (which owns MTV and Paramount), the television network CBS and various broadcasting stations put Jackson and her catalog on a so-called “blacklist”.
The result: Countless television and radio stations stopped playing their music and showing their videos. While the sister of the ‘King of Pop’ was previously considered a superstar, the suspension also had a negative impact on her chart positions. Critics at the time noted that Janet Jackson would likely face more severe penalties because she is a black woman. “In public discourse, she stood there like the initiator of the suggestive gesture, like a scheming seductress who manipulated Timberlake in order to be economically successful herself,” wrote Shannon L. Holland in her book “Women’s Studies in Communication” at the time.
In this respect, one can only welcome the fact that the “New York Times” has made a start with its documentary – even if Jackson himself does not see it that way.
Those: “Page Six”