Usually, the day-after buzz regarding the Super Bowl halftime show is about the wretched performance. This year, we got a stellar performance by Madonna — which was almost immediately overshadowed by a split-second middle-finger salute by guest rapper M.I.A.
Sensing another “Nipplegate,” it didn’t take long for the media to start freeze-framing the offensive digit and begin pontificating about its meaning. Was M.I.A. making a statement? Did Madonna know? Who was to blame, the NFL, NBC or the censors?
Outrage ensued. The NFL called the gesture “obscene” and “disappointing.” Talking heads spent hours talking about the “outrageous” act. There’s talk of M.I.A. being fined or blacklisted from future live TV events.
All of which has me thinking: Really? For its live halftime special, the NFL books Madonna, who built a career on shock value; LMFAO (if you don’t know what this acronym means, you haven’t used the Internet); Cee-Lo Green, whose biggest hit rhymes with “Truck You”; and M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj, two female rappers whose CDs regularly carry a parental warning sticker — and then it’s shocked at a flipped bird? The NFL should be breathing a sigh of relief that that was the only thing that happened.
And anyway, it’s not as if “family-time TV” hasn’t had it share of adult-oriented material before on major networks. It’s been happening almost from the beginning. Here are just a few examples:
• In 1956, Lloyd Bridges said “godd—” on a live broadcast of “The Alcoa Hour” on NBC.
• In 1969, a new sketch comedy series, “Turn-On,” was so offensive, ABC canceled it in the middle of the first episode.
• In 1980, the CBS TV movie “Gauguin the Savage” starring David Carradine featured three scenes of full-frontal nudity.
• In 1993, “NYPD Blue” shot for the moon — literally. The first episode showed both male and female derrieres, a practice that would continue for the ABC show’s 12-year run.
• In 2002, Cher and Nicole Richie uttered naughty words on live TV during the Billboard Music Awards on Fox. Not to be outdone, Bono said the F-word on the Golden Globes on NBC the following year.
n Last year, Nancy Grace single-handedly caused young children to turn up missing (from the living room) when she had her own “wardrobe malfunction” on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
The one thing trending throughout these incidents is that, for some reason, the outrage is always greater when it’s a pop star who makes the offense.
So M.I.A.’s middle finger malfunction stands to be a perfect primer for this Sunday’s Grammy Awards, which will broadcast live on CBS during “family-time TV” and feature live performances from Katy Perry, Foo Fighters and Lil’ Wayne, all of whom have been known to utter an offensive word or 20. Even Adele, the current sweetheart of middle-class suburbia, is notorious for her potty mouth both on- and off-stage.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these performers gave their own one-fingered salute in an act of solidarity with M.I.A. — who, for all we know, was just a Patriots fan expressing the sentiment felt by people watching the game at home.
Deputy Managing Editor Rod Harmon may be contacted at 791-6450 or at:
rharmon@pressherald.com
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