Janet Jackson "Wardrobe Malfunction" Case Back in Court

More than five years after Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" shocked millions of Americans watching Super Bowl XXXVIII with a flash of nudity, Nipplegate continues to live on, in the courts. After an appeals court last year threw out the $550,000 fine CBS owed the FCC, the Supreme Court announced today that the case will be reviewed again to see if CBS is indeed responsible for the incident. The Supreme Court's ruling comes just one week after they upheld FCC policy that levies fines for any and all curses on live television, even if it's just a one-time outburst, the AP reports.

CBS's fine was tossed by a lower court last year, which found that the Super Bowl incident was "fleeting" as it lasted a mere 9/16ths of a second. Per the BBC, 90 million viewers were watching the halftime show when Justin Timberlake tore off a piece of Jackson's bra near the end of his "Rock Your Body"; CBS received 542,000 complaints.

The Supreme Court has asked Philadelphia's 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals to consider reinstating the fine. CBS said in a statement that they were confident the court would again find in their favor and drop the fine, arguing the network could not have anticipated what ultimately happened onstage between Jackson and Timberlake.

Since 2004's famous "wardrobe malfunction," the Super Bowl has stuck to classic rockers unlikely to spontaneously disrobe for its half-time shows, inviting Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and most recently Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band onto its stage.

Related Stories:

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• Beyond Bruce: Who's Next for the Super Bowl?

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

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