NFL star Tom Brady is facing backlash for comments he made about Janet Jackson and her wardrobe mishap during the 2004 Super Bowl.
Brady made the comments on Feb. 13 during his podcast “Let’s Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald, and Jim Gray.” Brady was first asked about his feelings on Rihanna‘s performance during the halftime show.
“She’s great. She’s great. She’s a great performer and been at it for a long time,” said Brady. “She blows everyone away all the time. She’s one of the unique performers. It’s great to see people on that stage, too, ’cause I think that stage of the Super Bowl is reserved for a lot of special people. … Rihanna’s pretty great.”
Brady went on to say that he usually doesn’t watch the halftime show because he is concentrating on the game. The retired NFL quarterback added that during the 2004 Super Bowl, a reporter asked him about Janet Jackson’s wardrobe mishap. Jackson was performing with Justin Bieber and when he tore away part of her costume during the show, he inadvertently exposed her breast. Jackson received the majority of the criticism following what was often referred to as “Nipplegate.”
“I didn’t see much. I’d much rather not see it if I’m playing,” said Brady. “Even when I remember when I was, when we beat Carolina. … We came off the field and that was when we had the wardrobe malfunction with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson. And they were asking me about that, I couldn’t even understand what they were telling me about. They said, ‘Did you see the halftime show?’ and I said, ‘I didn’t see anything.’ I was thinking about the game. … It took awhile for us to figure out exactly what had gone on,” he continued.
Brady seemed oblivious to the hardships the malfunction caused Jackson while adding that he thought the publicity was good for the NFL
“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,” said Brady. “Is any publicity bad publicity? That’s what they say, so who knows?”
Fans on social media quickly came for Brady following his comments.
“Janet Jackson faced public humiliation and outright misogynoir resulting in her getting blacklisted by the former CEO of CBS,” wrote one fan. “But Tom Brady thinks all of that was ok because all publicity is good publicity. Sick.”
“I doubt that was an original thought. But would he feel that way if that was his daughter,” replied one fan. “How Justin Timberlake was able to escape that unscathed says a lot about where we were and where we are as a society.”
One fan said he should be ashamed of himself. “???? He should be ashamed for treating Janet’s trauma like that.” Another fan wrote, “Sooooooo……. Now we know what Tom Brady and Donald Trump talk about when they’re together.”
“With you being a Trump-supporting, racist that loves deflating balls,” added another fan. “Of course you are thankful about profiteering off a Black woman being demonized for years and her career being destroyed.”
