Paula Varjack’s theatre show Nine Sixteenths looks back at the 2004 Super Bowl ‘Nipplegate’ controversy and what it reveals about the pressures on black women in the public eye.
It has been just over two decades since Justin Timberlake ripped off a piece of Janet Jackson’s bustier at the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show – an incident that saw her right breast briefly exposed to 70,000 in-person spectators and more than 140 million TV viewers in what became known as “Nipplegate”. Despite both singers chalking the moment up to a “wardrobe malfunction”, it sparked international outrage and left Jackson, then 37, blacklisted from a significant portion of the music industry for years. In contrast, 23-year-old Timberlake (having just left the boyband ’NSync) went on to thrive as a solo artist.
The role that race, age and gender played in the aftermath is the inspiration for US-born theatre-maker and performer Paula Varjack’s new play, Nine Sixteenths. As a black woman, “it feels like you are not allowed to put a foot wrong”, says 46-year-old Varjack, who now lives in London. “One thing goes wrong, and that is it,” she adds. “The terrifying thing for me about [Jackson’s] story is that I strongly believe it was an accident.” READ MORE from The Guardian
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