Janet Jackson Says Super Bowl Scandal Is History: 'Justin And I Are Very Good Friends'

The 2004 Super Bowl was not pleasurable for pop icon Janet Jackson as she had an embarrassing moment while performing.

During her "Rock Your Body" performance at the half-time show with Justin Timberlake, he revealed her breast to about 140 million people.

According to PEOPLE's report, Janet confessed she and the "Cry Me a River" singer have let bygones be bygones. 

Her documentary "Janet" made the status of the duo's friendship known. She talked about the infamous incident saying the situation got out of hand and everyone was out to blame someone. 

Janet knew it was an accident that wasn't meant to happen, but it did anyway. She advised everyone to move on as she and Timberlake have done so. The 55-year-old said:

“He and I have moved on, and it’s time for everyone else to do the same.”

She revealed that they were very good friends and would always be good friends. They both communicate regularly despite their not-so-happy history.

Following the Super Bowl incident, Janet's career didn't turn out so well. She was shut out from the entertainment industry, and her music was banned from broadcasts.

On the other hand, Timberlake got an increase in his record sales, despite the scrutiny he faced over the incident on stage. 

At the time, the 40-year-old singer reached out to Janet to ask if he should make a public speech on her behalf. She advised him not to since they already had her to blame.

However, later in 2006, the Indiana-born actress told Oprah Winfrey that she felt like everyone was focused on her instead of the pair. She also admitted to feeling like Timberlake left her out to dry. 

Timberlake spoke about the issue during an interview with Zane Lowe in 2018. He spoke candidly about making amends with Janet because he valued their relationship.

Even though he couldn't change what happened, he hoped to learn from his mistake. The singer later publicly apologized to Janet to take accountability for his past mistakes.

The New York Times released a documentary in 2021 about Janet and Timberlake's Super Bowl humiliation. The title of the series was "The New York Times Presents Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson."

The Blast shared that the production was created to dissect the 2004 broadcasted event and reveal what really happened then. All parties involved were affected differently, including the production company, MTV.  

Nudity was pretty much a big deal at the time, and Janet's breast exposure was an inadequate representation for MTV. Everyone involved in the production was upset and felt betrayed.

Their emotions were warranted as they believed MTV wouldn't be allowed to produce the Super Bowl half-time show from then onwards.    

It seemed MTV had no hand in Timberlake's stunt, so taking the fall of what they didn't approve of was a significant issue. 

The senior vice president at the time, Salli Frattini, believed the singers planned the act. Frattini revealed that Janet didn't mention anything to the company as she fled immediately after the show. In his words:

“Janet never said anything to us. Here we are trying to ask the person that this has happened to…and she was gone.”

On the other hand, Timberlake assumed the company knew he would do that. However, he apologized for the stunt.

With the speculations, people believed Janet was behind the incident since she bailed and didn't clear the air after the show.

The legendary Michael Jackson was known to be one of the closest siblings to Janet. But even with their closeness, there were darker sides to their relationship.

In her upcoming documentary, she opened up about how Michael mocked her weight and called her insulting names like pig, horse, slut, hog, and cow. 

The Blast reported she admitted that even though they laughed about it, the name-calling still hurt. That was the first time the actress ever revealed her brother's insults. 

During the filming of "Good Times," where she acted as Penny, Janet started having weight issues. She admitted to being an emotional eater; food was her comfort when she got stressed or bothered. 

As the years went by, her weight wasn't stable. The star blamed her fame and said that her weight wouldn't have been an issue if she was not in the public eye.