The scandal of pulling the shirt revealed Janet Jackson’s first round on film

 The case of female singer Janet Jackson being torn off her shirt leading to the first round of exposure when she was performing with male singer Justin Timberlake will be re-analyzed in the documentary “Malfunction”.

This incident caused a big controversy in 2004. Now, the New York Times (USA) and two filmmakers have teamed up to make a documentary.

The crew of this film includes many members who have participated in the documentary “Framing Britney Spears” (2021) which has attracted quite much attention this year. “Framing Britney Spears” revolves around the pop star’s legal battle against the guardianship imposed on her life over the years.

The scandal of pulling the shirt revealed Janet Jackson’s first round on film (Photo: New York Post).

Now, the documentary “Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson” is also receiving a lot of attention, the film will deeply explore the incident that occurred during the performance of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at the Super Bowl (USA) in 2004.

At that time, Justin Timberlake snatched Janet Jackson’s shirt and caused the singer to be exposed on one side of her chest right on live television, in front of millions of viewers watching the show.

The documentary will reach out to people involved in the show in the past as well as cultural experts, to get multi-dimensional perspectives and opinions. Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake are not involved in this documentary.
The case of female singer Janet Jackson being torn off her shirt leading to the first round of exposure when she was performing with male singer Justin Timberlake will be re-analyzed in the documentary “Malfunction” (Photo: New York Post).

At the Super Bowl in 2004, Janet Jackson performed her hit songs at that time such as “All for You”, “Rhythm Nation”, when performing the song “Rock Your Body” with Justin Timberlake, at the end of the song, Timberlake suddenly pulled one side of Janet Jackson’s chest, causing her to completely expose her right chest.

Although Janet Jackson was using a breast patch at that time, the scene was still very shocking and immediately became one of the biggest scandals ever on the music stage of American showbiz. The camera angle on television at that time immediately had to switch from a close-up recording of the two artists to a wide-angle panorama to reduce the level of controversy.

This is in fact a “notorious” moment that has entered American pop culture. At that time, the US Federal Communications Commission had to receive more than 540,000 complaints from viewers because of this incident.
This is in fact a “notorious” moment that has entered American pop culture (Photo: New York Post).

CBS, which produced, recorded and broadcast the program at the time, was fined $550,000 by the Federal Communications Commission for the incident, but in 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the fine was unreasonable and that CBS did not need to pay the fine.

At that time, even though she was a “victim”, Janet Jackson also suffered a lot of consequences, she not only suffered humiliation but also had to witness an image crisis while she herself did not intentionally cause the scandal.

Two years after the incident, Justin Timberlake once said: “I probably only get about 10 percent of the criticism. “I think people have been too harsh on women, I think in America, we treat people of color harshly and unfairly.”

The factor of gender discrimination and racial discrimination in this incident will also be a theme explored in the documentary.

Earlier this year, Justin Timberlake issued an apology to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson in a social media post. Timberlake apologized to Britney for the way he had treated her so harshly in public to the media and the public after the two broke up.
Earlier this year, Justin Timberlake issued an apology to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson in a social media post (Photo: New York Post).

The documentary “Framing Britney Spears” has analyzed the consequences that Britney Spears has suffered from the men who appeared in her life, in which, Justin Timberlake – Britney’s most famous boyfriend in the most famous years has caused her a lot of suffering, Timberlake once implicitly accused Britney of being a traitor who broke up their relationship.

Timberlake’s treatment has created unnecessary public pressure on Britney. When the documentary “Framing Britney Spears” was released, Justin Timberlake apologized to his “ex” for his behavior in the past, and at the same time, he also apologized to Janet Jackson for his actions in their joint performance:

“I especially want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson because I really care and respect them, but I know how my actions didn’t do that,” Timberlake wrote on his personal account.