Court Tosses FCC Fine For Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl ‘Wardrobe Malfunction’

Tags:

Music,Justin Timberlake,Super Bowl,Janet Jackson,Courts

enlarge

1/4

AP
Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at Super Bowl in 2004
AP
Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at Super Bowl in 2004
AP
Janet Jackson in all black at the Cartier party in LA
AP
Justin Timberlake hosts the 2008 ESPYs

hottest galleries

The Latest Star Sightings
Access the day’s hottest photos!
Michael Jackson: The Life Of An Icon
Check out pictures of Michael Jackson’s ‘thrilling’ life from his Jackson Five days to his last moments….
Farrah Fawcett: From ‘Angel’ To Icon
Check out recent photos of the lovely Farrah Fawcett

more galleries

FIRST PUBLISHED: July 21, 2008 9:39 AM EDT
LAST UPDATED: July 21, 2008 9:44 AM EDT

PHILADELPHIA, PA --

A federal appeals court on Monday threw out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson’s breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction.”

The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Communications Commission “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of nudity.

The 90 million people watching the Super Bowl, many of them children, heard Justin Timberlake sing, “Gonna have you naked by the end of this song,” as he reached for Jackson’s bustier.

The court found that the FCC deviated from its nearly 30-year practice of fining indecent broadcast programming only when it was so “pervasive as to amount to ‘shock treatment’ for the audience.”

“Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second-guessing,” the court said. “But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of and a reasoned explanation for its policy departure.”