What Have You Done for Me Lately?
Reconsidering the 2004 Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" with R. Ysoscher Katz.
My clients tell me that I must really love Janet Jackson—which I do—because I often remind them of her hit 1986 song “What Have You Done for Me Lately.” In the song, Jackson questions whether her love interest is continuing to make her life better. People—your customers, clients, employers, and so on—want to know how you and your work are adding value to their lives. I encourage my clients to keep that perspective in mind: Your creative work should ideally enhance someone else’s life, not just your own.
Janet Jackson is on my mind again as the Super Bowl approaches next Sunday. The Eagles are playing the Chiefs, as I recently learned. This Super Bowl marks 21 years since the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” that occurred when Janet Jackson was headlining the 2004 halftime show. Jackson was closing the show—which also featured now-disgraced performers including Puff Daddy and Nelly—with her real-life friend Justin Timberlake. Timberlake was 23 years old, and Jackson was 15 years Timberlake’s senior. He’d been a fan of hers since childhood.
In the final seconds of the show, during a collaboration of Timberlake’s song “Rock Your Body,” Timberlake reached across Jackson and removed her costume’s right breast-plate, all the while completely exposing what was underneath. Timberlake and Jackson’s jointly-planned publicity stunt—what this “wardrobe malfunction” appears to have really been—became an iconic media moment, in a bad way. It led to a half-million decency complaints to the FCC and all sorts of headaches for the parties involved.
The headaches were biggest and most permanently damaging for Jackson, though. Accounts vary about the immediate aftermath of the stunt and how the consequences were doled out to each artist. Even after extensive research I can’t confirm what exactly happened. But despite the fact that they were both asked to publicly apologize—and they did, to varying degrees—Timberlake was the one who appeared at the 2004 Grammys immediately afterward. Jackson was uninvited, or didn’t attend. Timberlake was called the “Teflon man” for surviving the “wardrobe malfunction” without even a scratch to his reputation. Meanwhile, Jackson was turned into a pariah by various media executives (one of whom was ultimately disgraced for, of all things, sexual abuse). Whatever happened behind the scenes, there can be absolutely no question that Jackson’s career withered for a long period of time after the incident.
Timberlake’s star continued to rise unabated—despite having been the one to physically execute the stunt! He only really took responsibility—in a statement that largely blamed the system—in 2021, after embarrassing details about his less-than-admirable behavior to former girlfriend Britney Spears came to light in a documentary. Timberlake even got to perform at the Super Bowl again in 2018. Jackson, it could be argued, has never really professionally recovered from 2004.
Like many, I am still mad at Justin Timberlake for not coming to Janet Jackson’s aid in a meaningful way. He hasn’t done much for Jackson, lately or ever. I have long refused to play Timberlake’s music at any event I have hosted. If you’ve heard Justin Timberlake at one of my parties, a) you didn’t, and b) it was certainly not my doing.
Last year, the wheels of fortune began turning for Justin Timberlake. He got a DWI in the Hamptons in an episode that embarrassed his family (he is a married father of two now). Timberlake’s most recent album was panned. Pitchfork said that it “brims with a misplaced confidence that can only be described as Timberlakean.” The coverage of his current tour has made him look a tad pathetic—Timberlake’s former bandmates from *NSYNC showed up at his show without notice, and Timberlake seemed to sort of whine about it onstage. Cry me a river, as Timberlake would say.
Most eyebrow-raising, though, was Timberlake’s own widely shared and humiliating “wardrobe malfunction,” which occurred onstage during his tour. The incident was exactly as local and specific as 2004’s Nipplegate, but at least Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” had been flattering.
Remarkably, the incident seemed to match, measure for measure, what had happened to Jackson. It also made Timberlake look like the un-serious artist many people had long suspected he was. One of Timberlake’s biggest hits was his 2006 song “What Goes Around…Comes Around”—and this time it came for Timberlake himself.
I invited Rabbi Ysoscher Katz—a previous contributor to my newsletter—for a video interview to discuss these events and more. Rabbi Katz delivered lively, wise, and deeply-researched commentary that got me thinking about gender, power, and modesty in new ways. Usually talk of the 2004 Super Bowl puts me in a bad mood, but Rabbi Katz left me smiling and even laughing at points. I thank him for that.
I’ll set you loose on the full video interview. Before I do, however, I want to quickly note that these incidents have forced me into a reexamination of my 21-year long grudge against Justin Timberlake. When I rewatched the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, I was struck by how young Timberlake actually looks. It took a long time plus widespread public urging for Timberlake to express real remorse for his previous behavior. Even now he comes across as almost completely lacking in desire for personal growth.
I’m not sure, though, that my own mini-protest of his music was the right thing to do. After all, it’s not my place to police random celebrities. I asked Rabbi Katz what he thought, and his answer surprised me.
This newsletter marks my first foray into video content. If you have feedback, drop me a line and let me know what I have, or haven’t, done for you lately. Rabbi Katz regularly posts about Judaism and modern culture on his popular Facebook page—follow him here.
Finally, I wrote about this year’s halftime performer Kendrick Lamar in a previous newsletter. Refresh your memory here.
Go Eagles!
I advise clients across industries on a broad array of writing and career projects. If I feel right for you, visit my business website to learn more and to book a session.
I sometimes assign clients customized exercises with something called EFT tapping, and I have long suspected that they think it’s goofy. My suspicions were confirmed when two of them sent me a video of themselves “doing their tapping” at a conference.
that was an interesting conversation with him. His points were much different than you expected. My thoughts would also be different, but it is good to hear all sides. But in my life when you are angry with someone, it is you that has to let it go or I say you need to forgive them (you do not actually have to confront them and say I forgive you, you do it in your heart) as it only takes up space in your head and not the other persons. Once you forgive it goes away.
Rabbi Squash Maestro
If at any point you find yourself wondering if you were ever "too harsh" on a 23 year-old Justin Timberlake, here's a clip from 2011 (7 years after the incident) where Justin is still "rapping" proudly about his actions. This is a really crappy way to treat a friend, much less someone who helped launch your career. (Janet invited NSYNC to be her opening act during her hugely popular 1998 Velvet Rope Tour.)
https://youtu.be/A-pkcELrWAA?t=38