Adam Levine performed
shirtless during the halftime show at the Super Bowl on Sunday night, prompting
this Jewish publication to ask — how many rabbis are going to use this image as
the introductory anecdote for their sermons this Shabbat?
During their performance, the frontman of pop band Maroon Five peeled off his skintight tanktop and tossed it into the crowd, revealing an abdomen so inked up it looks like a wall parents let their kids draw before a kitchen remodel.
It’s salient that Levine intentionally removed his shirt, because when singer Janet Jackson experienced an infamous “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl LVIII — fellow performer Justin Timberlake pulled at her shirt, which burst open, revealing one of her breasts — Jackson was blacklisted.
CBS was fined $550,000 by the FCC, and Jackson’s music was kept off radio stations. Then-CBS head Les Moonves (who has since lost his career over decades of sexual misconduct allegations)personally tried to destroy Jackson. In the years that followed her performance, the singer split her time between being treated like a laughingstock and being lectured for immorality.
Janet Jackson’s career was irreparably damaged by a flash of her nipple on television. Adam Levine stripped his shirt off in the same segment to demonstrate his sexual status. Why are women punished for actions for which men are rewarded? Why are women’s nipples taboos that should remain carefully concealed while men’s nipples can be proudly displayed on TV? If Adam Levine is such a nice Jewish boy, why did he accept an invitation to perform at an event many of his contemporaries chose to forgo because of the NFL’s shameful treatment of civil protest? Why did Maroon Five never make another album like Songs About Jane?
Read more: https://forward.com/schmooze/418685/adam-levine-tear-off-shirt-super-bowl-halftime-janet-jackson/
