April
9, 2004 -- I offer up this opinion for anyone confused as to the whole Janet
Jackson showing tit episode at the 38th Super Bowl, Feb 2, 2004. There are a
lot of people not close to the situation, who live in other countries, or
who didn't see the game or who really don't give a shit. The casual observer
might get the mistaken impression that the episode has caused many a
politician and media organization to get on their high horse and reexamine
decency standards in broadcasting, and lambast artists for using profane or
sexually explicit material.
All
of that is true, some of it unfortunate, but let's
get it straight from the start -- the only reason -- the only reason -- why
the NFL and the top honchos at CBS, the company that broadcast the game,
were thrown into a tizzie about the whole affair is not that Janet Jackson
showed tit. They could give a rats ass if Janet Jackson showed tit. What CBS
and the NFL were pissed off about was that Janet Jackson "hi-jacked the
Superbowl" -- the very words that the top-honcho of CBS used.
She was
given an opportunity to ride the wave of the billion-dollar marketing
Godzilla that is the Super Bowl to sell her next album, and instead grabbed
the wave all for herself in a LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME, Fuck the
game, LOOK AT ME publicity stunt.
In a normal or
less-attended affair, like say the NHL playoffs, such a publicity
stunt by Jackson would generate extra publicity that would cause
under-the-cover glee by the organizers of the event.
But
the Superbowl doesn't need any more attention. It's already become the
biggest American national holiday -- companies might as well start giving
workers off the Monday after.
Oh no no no. Don't think we'll stoop to
the lows of sexual depravity that CBS did to increase
paperbacknovel.com's traffic.
The game is a billion dollar industry
by itself, a goliath rising bigger and bigger every year. And the NFL has
already pushed the sex quotient to the limit in the NFL cheerleader sideline
shows and half game celebrations and commercial spots. A stunt like Janet
Jackson's is the only kind of thing that can start causing the party to start
crashing down upon itself. Like a party drunk who gets so obnoxious that
people start to leave. It pushes the Superbowl over the top of the bell
curve.
But
all of that's really not important. The organizers of the event (CBS
and MTV aka Viacom, and the NFL) can claim the proper ignorance, raise
the proper indignance, scold the proper parties, and invite Shania Twain
back to next year's half-time event.
Reader
Feedback
..
Another thing is the superbowl article. Tell me this, why would
Janet do something like that to sell an album that was due more than
3 months later? It was obviously a something that went too far. Look
at the after footage access hollywood, extra, and entertainment
tonight has. You can see that Janet was very upset and crying.
The
sad part about the whole affair is the public backlash and extra
ammunition it's given to groups like the FCC to start clamping down on
freedom of speech in other areas of entertainment. The repercussions
may be felt for years to come. And for this, Janet Jackson is no hero.
Just a dumb, ego-driven twit who accidentally started the whole thing.
She wasn't mandating her right to free speech; she was just trying to
show tit and have everyone buy her next album.
But
it was fun to see Justin Timberlake run from the whole affair, blaming
Janet, and almost crying while apologizing on the Grammy's two days later.
So maybe the whole thing worked out after all. Anybody remember the score of
the game? Or who played?
--
LouV
Back in the old days, Janet could always find a
helping hand to cover her breasts from public exposure.
