I don't particularly care about Justin Timberlake or Janet Jackson, and I'm certainly not fool enough to believe either of them when they say that Janet's bare breast being shown during the halftime show of the Super Bowl was a wardrobe malfunction, for pete's sake.
But of all the commentary I've read on it in the past two days, this article makes the most sense:
The NFL tried to use MTV, and got used back. The league wanted it both ways, was willing to borrow some edgy, sexy entertainers from the music network, but wanted them to water down their performances and material to suit the league's image and mainstream network audience. The league sells sex as subtext, in the form of cheerleaders, or halftime shows with scantily clad girl singers, or in suggestive beer commercials. But it doesn't want breasts on center stage. That way it can claim the Super Bowl is safe viewing for the kids.
I love football, have loved it since I was a little girl watching the Redskins in my Granny's house with my Daddy and his brothers on a snowy black-and-white TV with rabbit ears. But in this bootylicious age of reality shows, Sex and the City and Madonna and Britney kissing on live TV, the game of football has taken a backseat to entertainment, with the full consent of the National Football League. For them to wring their hands and declaim about big bad MTV is disingenous at best and totally ludicrous in reality.
(thanks to theDiva for the article link)
Comments