If you were watching the Superbowl halftime show in 2004 you witnessed "the moment." It was the moment millions of people in American were able to learn what a nipple shield was. It was on live TV during the MTV-produced 2004 Superbowl halftime when Justin Timberlake tore off part of Janet Jackson's costume, revealing a metal sunburst [nipple shield] on her breast. The NFL's game of the season was over-shadowed by this "wardrobe malfunction.
Today, in 2008, this is what happened in court:
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 court found that the FCC deviated from its nearly 30-year practice of fining indecent broadcast programming only when it was so "pervasive as to amount to 'shock treatment' for the audience."[Link]
