While we're milking the Janet Jackson Superbowl thing, let's just take a second to think of what was rejected as inappropriate for broadcast during the game.
For starters, Mike Ditka doing an ad about erectile dysfunction apparently did not present a problem.
Now, CBS was all about raunchy MTV rap stuff for the halftime. Nelly grabbing his crotch a dozen times while carrying on about pimps and hos? Cool! Justin and Janet dry humping across the stage? OUTSTANDING! Then of course, there is The Tit. Of course, CBS and MTV knew NOTHING about that. (Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. Say no more.)
However, a serious MOVEON.org ad- for which they were willing to pay good money- was not acceptable. It shows children working in a sweatshop to pay for Bush's budget deficit. THAT would be too controversial. This got some attention before the fact, but has been totally swept away down the memory hole by The Tit.
They had a Bono thing, however, that really takes the cake. As part of his long running AIDS awareness campaign, Bono had a little piece put together to insert into the halftime show. It would have involved him and J Lo singing a song called "An American Prayer." The song talks about the African AIDS crisis. This was apparently a violation of the "no issues" policy.
It seems that budget deficits and AIDS constitute inappropriate "issues" for family consumption, but pimps and hos do not. Hmm.
I guess it depends on what the definition of "issue" is.
Article comments