10 years of fallout from Janet Jackson’s halftime show

America Online spent somewhere in the $10 million range to sponsor the halftime performance, exclusively host video of the event online, and promote their dial-up service. Following the Janet outcry and the negative press that came with it, AOL was quick to ask the NFL for a refund. “While AOL was the sponsor of the Super Bowl Halftime Show, we did not produce it,” an AOL spokesman said at the time. “Like the NFL, we were surprised and disappointed with certain elements of the show and in deference to our membership and the fans, AOL and AOL.com will not be presenting the Halftime Show online as originally planned.” The NFL then argued that CBS or MTV should reimburse AOL. Meanwhile, McDonald’s, despite finding the halftime show “inappropriate,” decided to stick with Timberlake as their celebrity endorser.

Unlike this year, where CBS’ broadcast of the Grammys precedes the Super Bowl, in 2004, CBS had the Super Bowl scheduled prior to the Grammys, where Jackson was recruited to present a Luther Vandross tribute. However, following the Super Bowl and the uproar, CBS rescinded their invitation to Jackson. Timberlake, however, was not only allowed to attend the ceremony, he actually won a pair of awards. He did use his acceptance speech to once again apologize for the “unintentional” incident.

A young software programmer at PayPal named Jawed Karim is unable to find any video of the Jackson Super Bowl performance online. Frustrated in his attempts to find footage, Karim and some friends create a venue where people can easily upload and share video. Thanks to the scandal, YouTube is born in 2005. A year later, Google purchases the site for $1.65 billion.

While Karim worked on the code that became YouTube, the rest of America was looking for alternative methods to rewind and rewatch and reconcile what they just witnessed. As a result of Jackson’s split-second slip, TiVo subscriptions jump expontentially, and the acronyms TVR and DVR become household terms.

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