Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge, Getty Images
In 2024, you can go onto YouTube, one of the most popular media distributors in the United States and the world, and you can pull up Janet Jackson’s 2004 performance at the Super Bowl. There are videos with her whole 11-minute performance and others that show only the three seconds that shook the country. Justin Timberlake, standing to Jackson’s left and singing “better have you naked / by the end of this song” from his song “Rock Your Body,” reaches across her body, grabs her garment, and yanks. A “wardrobe malfunction” ensues, and instead of revealing a pretty red bra, you — for not even a full second — see her nearly bare breast, a star-shaped shield ...
