Leave Justin alone
It’s been 14 years since NippleGate (at one point, that term was the most searched item in internet history according to the Guinness Book of World Records), the infamous moment when Justin Timberlake ripped off a piece of Janet Jackson’s bustier to reveal a piercing-emblazoned nipple that sent moms and television censors around North America into a frenzied uproar.
Both performers confirmed after the show that the tearing of Jackson’s bustier was planned, although, they also claimed, it was supposed to reveal her bra underneath. According to the duo, the tear was supposed to happen at the precise moment Timberlake sings “better have you naked by the end of this song” during “Rock Your Body.” But instead, the bra ripped off as well.
That was way back in 2004, when the words “wardrobe malfunction” became part of our everyday language (as totally useless as “conscious uncoupling”). From then on, the Super Bowl broadcast began airing with a five-second delay, nudging the Grammys and Oscars to eventually follow suit. It also led to a $550,000 fine for CBS, which broadcast the Super Bowl that year, by the Federal Communications Commission. Despite both Timberlake and Jackson being reportedly banned from ever performing at the Super Bowl again, it was Jackson who faced the brunt of the blame – and the majority of the cruel headlines. The Washington Post wrote, “What Janet Jackson did was bizarre, deliberately flopping out of her costume like that.” According to Rolling Stone, Viacom was so “angered that an unannounced addition to the Super Bowl performance has now cost them all future halftime shows, (they) hit back at Jackson by essentially blacklisting her, keeping her music videos off MTV, VH1 and radio stations under their umbrella.” She went on to be banned from that year’s Grammy Awards, where Timberlake performed and picked up several awards.
For the next decade, his star would rise and hers would fall.
In an interview with MTV, Timberlake addressed the contrast in reaction and the difference in criticism that both received: “It’s an understatement to say that it was sort of unfair. If you consider it 50/50, I probably got 10 per cent of the blame. And I think that says something about society. I think that America’s harsher on women and I think that America’s unfairly harsh on ethnic people.” On Sunday, Timberlake will be headlining the 2018 halftime show – with a long-awaited new album in tow. But in place of anticipation, the internet elected that, if he is to perform come February, Timberlake owes Jackson an apology. One user on Twitter wrote, “Unless Justin Timberlake starts his set by introducing Janet Jackson with an apology and then continues watching quietly while she does 12 minutes of her catalog solo, the Super Bowl can keep this halftime show.” Another suggested the bulk of his performance should be a “9-minute Janet Jackson apology.”
But I don’t know that it’s so much Timberlake’s place to apologize again as it is America’s, and the media machine that so easily allows for a black woman having her breast revealed to be reviled and blamed. It’s yet another example of how the entertainment industry is designed with built-in obstacles for women and people of colour, while privileged white performers tend to escape unscathed from criticism.
In this post-Weinstein, mid-#MeToo glow, despite what the hivemind insists, it isn’t actually necessary that every major pop culture figure embark on an apology tour in order to earn the platform they’ve been given. Perhaps it speaks to Timberlake’s privilege, but he’s never been the brand of celebrity one expects to make political statements. Since the days of *NSYNC, he has been pure pop in every sense of the word. One need only take a glance at “Supplies,” his recent music video, and its desperate efforts to comment on just about every social justice issue that has popped up in the last year, however uninformed.
The result is a nearsightedness enforced by a new and confused outlook that demands commentary from everyone, even if they have no place to do so. And all it accomplishes are disingenuous reparations and false allyship. That’s not something I want or need from Justin Timberlake, who shouldn’t be expected to do much more than sing and dance across our television screens because that’s what he does best and – despite what social media may say – that is absolutely fine.