Newly retired (again) NFL legend Tom Brady took guff Tuesday for claiming that Janet Jackson’s 2004 Super Bowl halftime show “wardrobe malfunction” was “probably a good thing” for the NFL.
On Tuesday’s episode of his Let’s Go! podcast, Brady and co-hosts Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray were discussing Rihanna’s halftime show this year. Brady recalled the publicity that Jackson’s “nip slip” brought the league, Fox News reported.
The 45-year-old former player insisted that the whole incident was “probably a good thing for the NFL.”
“[Reporters] were asking me about that, and I couldn’t even understand what they were telling me about,” Brady told his audience. “They were like, ‘Did you see the halftime show?’ and I said, ‘Nah, I didn’t see anything.’ I was thinking about the game and was trying to figure out halftime adjustments.”
“It took a while for us to figure out what had gone on. That’s for the fans and not for the players,” Brady added,
Readers may recall that Justin Timberlake exposed Jackson’s right breast during their performance of “Rock Your Body,” in what officials claimed was a malfunction of Jackson’s costume.
Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake perform during the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXVIII (KMazur/WireImage)
“I think, in the end, it was probably a good thing for the NFL because everyone got to talk about it, and it was just more publicity and more publicity for halftime shows,” Brady exclaimed. “Is any publicity bad publicity? That’s what they say. So, who knows?”
Recently, Jackson said she is long past ready to move on from that moment and added, “Justin and I are very good friends, and we always will be. We talked a few days ago. He and I have moved on, and it’s time for everyone to do the same,” the New York Post reported.
Many social media users seem to side with Jackson and blasted Brady for even bringing the incident up.
Many jumped to Twitter to slam the seven-time Super Bowl winner:
I don’t think he understands the amount of shit she went through after that backlash. That comment was too superficial and shallow. https://t.co/lk7XJ331GH
— Big Kit (@StevieDwayne) February 15, 2023
????? He should be ashamed for treating Janet’s trauma like that
— Chris•tine | #SaveGentlemanJack (@alligatortearsq) February 14, 2023
Janet Jackson faced public humiliation and outright misogynoir resulting in her getting blacklisted by the former CEO of CBS, but Tom Brady thinks all of that was ok because all publicity is good publicity. Sick. https://t.co/1kcerS34Wc
— . (@MJFINESSELOVER) February 14, 2023
Or, he sees a black woman’s career being sidelined as a minor casualty for the sake of the nfl
— David (@davnett) February 15, 2023
So a black woman’s career and reputation is damaged and she was taunted for a number of years by the mainstream media but you know what, it was good for the NFL?!
Clearly too many knocks to his head. https://t.co/TFLWVABU2m— grandt (@notgrandt95) February 15, 2023
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