One of the most unforgettable – for all the wrong reasons – Super Bowl moments of all time between Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake is getting the documentary treatment.
FX and Hulu announced this week that Jackson and Timberlake’s infamous 2004 halftime show will become the subject of a new doc, as per Deadline. It’s the latest film in The New York Times Presents series, which has previously looked at the controversial conservatorship of Britney Spears (Timberlake’s ex) in Framing Britney Spears and Controlling Britney Spears.
The NYT series also aired an episode based around the intense bushfires that Australia saw at the beginning of 2020, Hurricane of Fire.
Going with the salacious title Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson, the documentary supposedly contains previously unseen footage, alongside interviews with those who were involved in production on the halftime show.
For those unaware, a wardrobe malfunction occurred during the set, with Timberlake exposing Jackson’s breast to millions watching around the world. While Jackson’s career was severely impacted and basically never recovered, Timberlake received little criticism as he continued on his way to the pinnacle of pop stardom.
That’s why the documentary will aim to explore the racial and gender politic that were involved in the coverage of the incident. MTV executives, for example, will be interviewed for it: MTV actually enforced a blacklist of Jackson’s music videos in the aftermath of the halftime show, although no similar action was enforced upon JT.
It’s being helmed by Jodi Gomes, who has previously directed a docuseries about the Jackson family for A+E. Members of the wider Jackson family are also set to take part in Malfunction.
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Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson is expected to arrive on FX and Hulu on November 19th.
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Check out Janet Jackson discussing the halftime show controversy with Oprah Winfrey:
