NEWS RELEASE from MORALITY IN MEDIA, Inc.
NEW YORK (2 February 2004) — Robert Peters, President of Morality in Media, had the following comments on the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake performance at the Super Bowl halftime yesterday:
“Following the NFL’s ‘Kick Off Live’ last fall at the National Mall in Washington [an event at which, in the words of Mary Huhn (“Britney fumbles the ball,” NY Post, 9/6/03), “[Britney} Spears stripped down to skimpy hot pants and a clinging crop top. At this point, the guys laid bets on whether her top would unzip.”], I wrote a letter to Wellington Mara, President of the New York Giants, no friend of the NFL’s halftime show slouch to Gomorrah. It read in part:
‘I think the “MTVization” of the NFL is a mistake! I know what the rationale is: if professional football is to survive it must attract youth and the best way to do that is with imagery (good, bad and ugly) right out of MTV…
‘[T]he best hope for football’s future is in promoting an image of toughness with integrity—like the Marines—not as a joint venture between gladiators and Britney Spears. You don’t see any scantily clad harlots parading around in promotions for the Marines!’
“In yesterday’s Super Bowl halftime show, it wasn’t Spears’ breasts that got exposed but those of Janet Jackson—compliments of Spears’ ex-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake.
“Perhaps, as Timberlake says, the incident was the result of an ‘wardrobe malfunction,’ but what business did Timberlake have in grabbing Jackson’s breast in the first place—and, in particular, during a live NFL telecast? Who at the NFL and CBS sanctioned that?
“And what will the FCC have to say about a young man purposefully grabbing a female’s breast, while singing ‘Got to have you naked by the end of this song’? Is this not a patently offensive ‘sexual activity’ when aired when tens of millions of children are watching?
“The future of the NFL will depend in large measure on whether parents can continue to be proud to have their children participate in the great sport called football. A great football game notwithstanding, Sunday’s halftime performance was a national disgrace.”
Author: MIM 20040202