Super Bowl Halftime Exposure
If there was any doubt before, Janet's performance last night erased any challenge to the Jacksons' claim to the title of First Family of Skank.
Is there any question that this never-was was seeking parity of "exposure" with the partakers of The Kiss? What a pathetic display of me-tooism.
I'm seeing calls for legal or regulatory action against those responsible, and I tend to agree that CBS needs to be called on the carpet by the FCC, with at least a hefty fine for the violation of the public's trust as to what is reasonably expected viewing during a sporting event. CBS'll claim that they didn't know and didn't have control, but that's akin to claiming that they didn't know that cuddling with a rattlesnake in a sleeping bag is dangerous to one's well-being.
Of course, I didn't actually see the mini-striptease when it happened, even though I did watch the game from start to finish, and that's the basis for one last response on this issue, to those parents who are yelling loudly about their small children being exposed (literally) to such scenes. Granted, it shouldn't have happened, and you do have the right to expect such things will not appear during a specified period of time on network TV.
At the same time, just because something is on TV doesn't mean it's worth watching. If the appearance of Kid Rock, Janet Jackson, et al didn't raise any warning flags with you, then I submit that you need to be doing more homework, and exercising more control over the remote. IOW, don't wait until television lives down to your worst expectations.
I'll close on a somewhat positive note: the elder Janet Jackson could learn a thing or two about class from Beyonce Knowles. The comparison of the two proves that wisdom doesn't necessarily accompany age. Despite being saddled forever with her association with the (now-dictionary-ized) "bootylicious" adjective, Beyonce knows how to rise above those baser instincts. As far as I'm concerned, she can be America's official designated singer of the Star Spangled Banner from now on.
Janet Jackson's public exposure on national television is also an interesting example of a number of double standards, both between celebrities and non-celebrities and also between different celebrities themselves.
For starters, if a regular woman deliberately flashed her breasts in public, she'd be arrested with indecent exposure. Janet Jackson deliberately flashes her breast and no one does a thing.
If a regular man deliberately ripped off a woman's clothing, he'd be arrested for sexual assault. Justin Timberlake deliberately rips off a woman's clothing and no one does a thing.
There also exists a double standard among celebrities.
When Marilyn Manson pulls down his pants during one of his concerts with a 21+ (in other words "NC-17") rating, he gets arrested for indecent exposure. Depending what else he does while his pants are down, he also gets charged with lewd and indecent behavior as well.
Now mind you, everyone going into that concert (either at a stadium or club) has to be over 21. On top of that, they know full well it's a Marilyn Manson concert and just about every last one of them knows exactly what that means in terms of a stage show. Most of them are looking forward to it.
Just the same, when Mr. Manson goes up before the judge, invariably he's told "the law is the law".
When Justin Timberlake rips off Janet Jackson's deliberately designed break-away breast plates in front of the whole world in an "all ages" televised half-time show, with millions of children and their families watching, guess what happens?
That's right. No one does a thing.
Posted by: Mr. Freen at March 8, 2004 03:50 AMAbout the publisher
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Expecting the worst...we immediately found other things to do when half-time started. But the whole sorry affair doesn't surprise me.
I thought perhaps that advertisers were learning to go after the crowd with the money, 40 yo and over. Apparently not.
Posted by: Wallace at February 2, 2004 03:24 PM