The Consequences Of Nipplegate

January 29, 2014 in Daily Bulletin

Ten years ago Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson performed a controversial Super Bowl halftime show where Timberlake ultimately exposed part of Jackson’s breasts. The ensuing controversy came to be known as Nipplegate. Marin Cogan looked at some of the impacts of the controversy:

  • The controversy put TiVo on the map. After the event 35,000 new customers enrolled for the ability to rewind live television.
  • One individual wanted an easy way for people to be able to go back and look up clips of the video. Two years later he would launch YouTube.
  • Howard Stern who frequently tested the boundaries of the FCC became collateral damage and was fired from his radio show. He would then sign on with the struggling SiriusXM and since then premium radio has been a force to reckon with.
  • For the next six years Super Bowl halftime shows were performed by middle-aged men.

Read more of the story behind the story, how the controversy torpedoed Jackson’s music career, and why this was “the last primal scream of a public marching inexorably toward a new digital existence” over here.

Source: ESPN