A federal appeals court has thrown out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson’s breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction.”
The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Communications Commission “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of nudity…
The 90 million people watching the Super Bowl, many of them children, heard Justin Timberlake sing, “Gonna have you naked by the end of this song,” as he reached for Jackson’s bustier…
“The Commission’s determination that CBS’ broadcast of a nine-sixteenths of one second glimpse of a bare female breast was actionably indecent evidenced the agency’s departure from its prior policy,” the court found.
In challenging the fine, CBS said that “fleeting, isolated or unintended” images should not automatically be considered indecent.
Living in a society where the morality of prudes prevails politically doesn’t help, either.
Wll, even I can see, in the single-frame capture (and that is what you need to even see the “Boob” in question) that the Breast is NOT NUDE, it has that Thingie on the Nipple !!! So, it’s not really a questiong of “Nudity” !!! If it was “Unadorned” it would still be covered under previous Supreme Court rulings that held that the naked human form was not obscene !!! So Fundie, put that in your pipe and smoke it !!!
Funny thing isn’t it? These “Bastions of morality” demand that your boys have to be heterosexuals no matter what the cost is and yet they don’t want them to see tits.
Tap dancing lessons at your local Evangelical church anyone?
I am curious if anyone knows how much money was spent by the FCC (that is, YOUR tax dollars) to try and fail to collect this bullshit $550,000 fine in the first place?
I’m certain CBS spent more than $550,000 defending… and it was probably a bargain considering what kind of future problems this ruling protects the industry from.
This is just one of a million reasons why we should tax churches.
Seems to me the fine for indecency was completely unwarranted and should have been defeated.
Then the court on its own motion could have imposed a fine of One Million Dollars against CBS for lying to the FCC about it being a “wardrobe malfunction.”
How stupid do we have to be to get justice in our courts and protection from the censors?
Are the courts kidding. That boob looks “fine” to me.
Why is anyone still talking about this? It was four freaking years ago.
Note to self: it is ok to look accidentally at boobies again.
Janet’s boob….you mean that guy to her left?
The FCC was trying to set a precedent with the fine, making it “in proportion” to the number of viewers, or the number of TV stations that broadcast it.
The judge made the more reasonable decision: that the fine should be “in proportion” to the offense – in this case 9/16ths of a second = $0 fine.
So when do boobs come to prime time TV?
#6 – Because its an important issue… Not the boob… But the unchecked power of the FCC
Unchecked power? They were authorized by Congress to issue fines, fines which they increased not too long ago.
The real unchecked power is the EPA adding new mandates that COngress never voted for.
#10
Boobs come to TV every night in my country…Even Janet’s…
#12 – Then Congresses unchecked power is also at issue.
This spectacle was some bullshit ritual celebrating earth, venus and mars lining up with the sun. She was venus, he was Mars.
w/e.
More boobs, less war… geez people have their priorities backwards. =p
I say more boobs (preferably perky ones) and less war… some people have their priorities backwards =p
I wasn’t all that shocked when I was told what happened. I mean just about everybody has two. Seeing a boob shouldn’t come as that much of a shock unless you are blind or something.
As soon as I learned that her bare boob wasn’t even shown as the picture clearly shows. I decided a lot of people were crazy on the other hand the show wasn’t put together with kids in mind.
It wasn’t as bad as when Rosan sang the national anthem.
I occurs to me that maybe the government and the FCC needed some non-issue to happen as a smoke screen for these other domestic spying policies they hoped nobody would notice. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that it was arranged in advanced. It wasn’t a “malfunction” of Jackson’s costume, it was a deliberate feature. And Timberlake almost didn’t “pull it off” as he had to hunt a bit for the bra cup, before pretending to rip it off as an afterthought. But surely Jackson was standing their waiting for his to do it. Come on! So it was arranged for with somebody’s knowledge. If not CBS executives, then at least the Superbowl people. Who failed to censor it in their video loop. I mean, Jimmy Kimmel Live, isn’t really LIVE, because the network or certain affiliates don’t trust Kimmel’s political view. So it always tape delayed and edited. But the Superbowl halftime was actually Live? WHY?! What was so special about it that it required being live? I wage there was a delay loop. And CBS simply didn’t exercise its use. They wanted the publicity value of the “malfuntion”. But as it couldn’t increase ratings, after the fact. WHY do it? Again, I think CBS was doing the Feds a favor. Making something for them to stink about, so the news would miss the spying of our phone calls and emails. Naturally, the courts left CBS off. They did the job, expecting not to be punished. And nobody else is going to get blamed for this. If anything, it probably made most of those involved a bit richer. CBS is obviously a tool of George Bush. They burned Mike Wallace for him, didn’t they?
Remember the 15 minutes of fame? Now each breast will be allowed at least 9/16-second of exposure. Look how far we’ve come in 4.5 years.
You know when I want to see boobs I go to a strip club. When I want to watch football ….
A time and place for every thing.
The FCC is worthless. Back in the day when use of a Citizen’s Band radio required a license, it was a different story. Nowadays, you can’t get a word in edgewise between all the mental midgets cussin’ up a storm or trying to start fights, and the hookers, etc. And now this: they waste truckloads of money on frivolous BS.
How nice it would be if the FCC actually did something useful, like putting an end to the obnoxious practices of jacking up the volume when the commercials come on, or running programs a minute or two late to keep viewers from switching channels.
Of course those things will never happen, because the FCC, like the Legislative branch of the government is a bribe-driven organization.
If the FCC had any balls they would stop those offensive dick extending ads and “Girls Gone Wild” ads.
#13 – Lyin’ Mike
>>The real unchecked power is the EPA adding new
>>mandates that COngress never voted for.
Christ. Even in a story about Janet Jackson’s tit, you can get in some right wingnut commentary about how it’s great to despoil the earth by ruining the environment.
Do you murmer right-wing talking points while you’re having sex, too?
Oh baby, baby, let me drill your ANWR! Let me drive my Humper into your sugar walls!
Blaw!
#25, Mustard,
I’m picturing Lyin’ Mike murmering to his right hand.
Geeze I hope that image doesn’t stay.