A new report says the Recording Academy wanted to honor Janet Jackson’s impact on the music industry during the 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremonies this month, but the idea was scrapped because of the way CBS handled Jackson’s 2004 Super Bowl halftime performance mishap where Justin Timberlake revealed her breast to the world.
TMZ reported this weekend that it was told by sources connected with the Grammys that the organizers of Feb. 5 award show wanted to recognize Jackson with their Global Impact Award, but there was a scheduling conflict.
“Recording Academy honchos wanted Janet to attend a pre-Grammy event with Black Music Collective days before the main event to accept the award, but her schedule wouldn’t allow it,” TMZ wrote.
Though the ’90s music icon was not available at that moment, there was another opportunity for her to receive the accolade during the live broadcast of the Grammys which aired on CBS. But TMZ said its sources claimed that broaching the possibility of Jackson attending the live ceremony led to another issue:
“CBS never made amends with Janet for making her persona non grata after the wardrobe malfunction,” the outlet wrote.
This huge honor seemed to be something both Jackson’s team and the Recording Academy wanted.
According to TMZ they “began talking about ways CBS could either apologize or figure out a way to acknowledge how she was treated by the network, but things got too complicated.”
Rapper Lil Wayne was who eventually took this honor home, but once fans got wind of Jackson’s possibility, they rallied behind her. On Twitter, several users spoke out and criticized the way CBS decided to handle the “Miss You Much” vocalist infamous incident.
“The bottom line is that Janet is an undeniable legend and CBS nor any other network had a problem parading Justin Timberlake in our faces this whole time (even immediately after the incident) so cut the s–t and put some respect on Miss Jackson’s name,” one fan wrote.
“They still doing Janet Jackson bogus, let’s slander Justin Timberlake for once”
In 2004, Jackson was the headline star to perform at Super Bowl XXVIII, which was broadcasted on CBS. During the halftime show performance artists like Timberlake, Diddy, Nelly, and more joined the stage.
The energy was crazy and cheers were heard from all over; this 11-minute mini-concert seemed like it would be one for the books. However, the only thing people seem to remember was the final 10 seconds when Timberlake ripped off a piece of Jackson’s bustier, exposing her right breast.
After this incident, the now-56-year-old Jackson received a lot of backlash, and CBS CEO Les Moonves even had her uninvited to the Grammys held a week later. As for Timberlake, he not only went to the 2004 Grammys but also received an award for “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.”
The controversy around the “wardrobe malfunction” — as Jackson’s team described the incident in the immediate aftermath — did not keep Jackson from attending the CBS-broadcast 2005 Grammy ceremonies, where she was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. In fact, the singer has had a number of appearances on broadcasts connected to CBS and parent company Viacom since 2004, including an appearance on CBS late-night talk show “The David Letterman Show” less than two months after the Super Bowl.
