WASHINGTON – The folks who brought you the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake Super Bowl flap took responsibility for it Wednesday, but not the blame.
National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue told Congress that he blamed the MTV producers of the halftime show, and Mel Karmazin, president of MTV’s parent Viacom Corp.
But Tagliabue also cited “my own ineptitude and the ineptitude of others” in recounting the contentious sessions that preceded the Feb. 1 broadcast for 100 million, including a threat to terminate the MTV contract six weeks before the game.
Karmazin said a preliminary investigation found no culpability at any Viacom subsidiary – either MTV which produced the show or at CBS, which broadcast game. Instead, he pointed to “the artists who decided to change the show” just one hour before game time.
Timberlake set off a public firestorm when he yanked off Jackson’s bustier and exposed her right breast. The incident lasted for 18 frames – three-quarters of a second – “that’s three-quarters of a second too much,” Karmazin said.
Tagliabue conceded that the NFL should have been more assertive before the Super Bowl. “We found MTV difficult to deal with,” he said, recounting the four-way talks involving the NFL, CBS, the broadcaster, MTV, the producer, and AOL, the sponsor.
Disputes arose over lyrics, costumes and the use of the flag by Kid Rock. At one point in mid-December, he said, “Our senior staff was seriously considering terminating MTV as producer of the halftime show.” At that point, he met with CBS President Len Moonves to resolve some of the differences.
NFL staff supervised scripts and several dress rehearsals. The show proceeded with at least one major issue unresolved – Kid Rock’s use of the American flag as a poncho. Tagliabue called that “inappropriate.”
Karmazin absolved MTV and CBS of any responsibility because it was Jackson and her choreographer who had changed the script, then met with Timberlake to describe a “new ending to the show.” He said that scripts, rehearsal tapes and affidavits were delivered to the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday.
Karmazin said both entertainers were to blame. “If Janet committed a crime, Justin was the getaway driver,” he said.
Timberlake apologized immediately after the game, calling the incident “a wardrobe malfunction” and again on CBS Grammy awards broadcast Sunday night. Last week, Jackson issued a video apologizing, but she was barred from the Grammy show when she refused to publicly apologize again, Karmazin said.
The incident generated more than 200,000 complaints to the FCC. “I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach,” Tagliabue recalled Wednesday.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell called it “a new low in prime-time television, just the latest example in a growing list of deplorable incidents over the nation’s airwaves.”
At the same time, Congress advanced legislation that would increase the potential fine 10 times, from $27,500 to $275,000. Testifying before the House and Senate Commerce Committees, Powell, whose agency would enforce the statute endorsed the legislation.
But beyond stiffer penalties, he called on the entire broadcast industry to “take affirmative steps to curb the race to the bottom.”
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