After Janet Jackson’s boob was met with puritanical backlash in 2004, the Super Bowl halftime show got fairly bland and safe. The years since have seen tame performances from old rock stars like Tom Petty, The Who and The Rolling Stones, and no modern artists (or women) until the Black Eyed Peas’ slightly disastrous 2011 show.
Last night, if you were paying really close attention, you might have seen M.I.A. flip her middle finger at America for less than a second while performing her part of “Give Me All Your Luvin” dressed as some sort of Pharaoh-cheerleader hybrid. In case you missed it, check out the video below:
I was watching the halftime show pretty closely — can’t help it, I still love Madonna — and didn’t even see M.I.A.’s bird until I read about it online this morning, but apparently there are people clutching their pearls and fainting over it.
NBC has already issued an apology, saying, “Our system was late to obscure the inappropriate gesture and we apologize to our viewers.” The NFL released a statement saying, “The obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing, and we apologize to our fans.”
Naturally, conservative group Parents’ Television Council still has their undies in a wad over the whole thing, calling it “the selfish acts of a desperate performer” and saying that NBC “argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that it should be allowed to air all manner of indecent material at any time of day, even when children are watching.”
It’s still too soon to see if anyone gets slapped with a ridiculous fine or if this so-called controversy lasts more than 24 hours. But really, it was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gesture that worked with the line of the song, and not really worth getting worked up over.
Maybe instead we should talk about how Ahmad Bradshaw fell into the endzone and scored what is probably the most hilarious touchdown in NFL history.
February 06, 2012 at 12:50 pm, Shimahanna said:
You’re as big an idiot as she is. I’m a pretty liberal democrat, not a right wing nut job. But it’s people like you who excuse assholes like her so some other talentless fool will do a similar thing in the future. It’s not her who needs to be find, it’s the self-loving pundits like you who need be muzzled.
February 06, 2012 at 1:22 pm, Rosie Sultana said:
And, you are BRILLIANT. It is not “find”, you moron. It is “fined”.
February 06, 2012 at 2:43 pm, Shimahanna said:
I figured somebody would lose the message through a typo. It never fails that messages posted with a simple typo get lost in the detail. Try to forgive the missing “e” and understand the missing intelligence of the original post. I’m sure your typing is perfect.
February 06, 2012 at 3:02 pm, Rosie Sultana said:
Have you watched TV, lately? There is far worse to worry about. I didn’t even notice the stupid finger until people started talking about it. The only reason I pointed to your typing was that was not the only inaccuracy. Apparently, MIA is an award winning performer and no talentless fool. All this “self-loving pundit” encouraged us to do was to ignore such bad behavior.
February 06, 2012 at 2:43 pm, Shimahanna said:
I figured somebody would lose the message through a typo. It never fails that messages posted with a simple typo get lost in the detail. Try to forgive the missing “e” and understand the missing intelligence of the original post. I’m sure your typing is perfect.
February 06, 2012 at 3:02 pm, Rosie Sultana said:
Have you watched TV, lately? There is far worse to worry about. I didn’t even notice the stupid finger until people started talking about it. The only reason I pointed to your typing was that was not the only inaccuracy. Apparently, MIA is an award winning performer and no talentless fool. All this “self-loving pundit” encouraged us to do was to ignore such bad behavior.