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Super Bowl XLVI Half-time Show on NBC

This year’s Super Bowl was another close one, with Eli Manning orchestrating a game-winning drive similar to the one that sealed the Giants’ victory in the 2008 championship. While the February 5^th game on NBC was a nail-biter, the half-time show was a complete head-scratcher, leaving many viewers wondering: A) What’s the deal with the guy in the white skirt bouncing on a wire? And B) Who the heck is M.I.A., and why does she apparently hate NFL fans? The British rapper’s middle-finger salute to 111.3 million viewers (a new ratings record, by the way) hijacked yet another half-time show -- and earned Super Bowl XLVI the title of Worst TV Show of the Week.   

At this writing, M.I.A. has yet to release an official statement explaining her intent behind the vulgar gesture, so in the meantime speculation abounds. Perhaps M.I.A. resents the fact that America has co-opted the word “football” for our own sport. Or perhaps, as editor of PopDust.com Craig Marks was quoted as saying in USA Today, “[Maybe] she felt a little silly for being up there in a mock cheerleader costume cheering for Madonna and she just wanted to make her mark somehow." Or, perhaps she was drumming up publicity for her upcoming album, reportedly due out this summer.

Whatever her reasons, another question emerges from the controversy: who is responsible? Clearly, M.I.A. bears the lion’s share of the blame, but there is certainly enough of it to go around. Yet, the NFL and NBC have both punted responsibility. NBC’s statement addressing the controversy pointed out that “the NFL hired the talent and produced” the show. The NFL shot back that a “failure in NBC’s delay system” allowed the “obscene” gesture to air. (NBC blurred the telecast one second after millions of viewers had already seen it).

Since Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl Half-time Show, the NFL has largely steered clear of booking controversial acts, opting instead for safer bets like Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, and Bruce Springsteen. So what did they expect would happen when they booked this year’s roster of performers – all of whom have courted controversy? Madonna is, well…Madonna. ‘Nuff said. Nicki Minaj gave viewers of Good Morning America a jolt when her wardrobe actually did malfunction during a live performance last summer. Cee-Lo Green scored a hit with the most scorching torch-song ever, “F*** You.” M.I.A.’s video for the single “Born Free” was pulled off of YouTube for full frontal nudity and extreme violence, with images of soldiers rounding up redheads and executing them.

Really, NFL? So much for the safe bets. Apparently, the NFL knew the odds were against a clean half-time show because, as reported by TMZ, “M.I.A. signed a contract with the NFL for the halftime performance, and in that contract M.I.A. agreed to indemnify the NFL for any money it might be forced to pay if the FCC comes down on the Peacock Network.”

So NBC and the NFL went to great lengths to protect themselves… but let millions of families get blindsided by what they knew could be a potentially controversial half-time performance.