Former FCC Chairman: I Wasn't That Outraged At Janet Jackson's Boob

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ESPN The Magazine looked back for the 10-year boobversary, talking to different people involved in the incident. The best quotes came from Michael Powell, the Federal Communications Committee chairman at the time—the group that polices decency on television—and had to deal with everyone thinking of the children because of a televised nipple. (He watched the boob at his house and said to his friend, "My day is going to suck tomorrow.&quot Though at the time Powell called it a "classless, crass and deplorable stunt," ten years later, Powell admits it wasn't as big of a deal as everyone made it out to be.

"I think we've been removed from this long enough for me to tell you that I had to put my best version of outrage on that I could put on," he says, shrugging his shoulders and rolling his eyes. "Part of it was surreal, right? Look, I think it was dumb to happen, and they knew the rules and were flirting with them, and my job is to enforce the rules, but, you know, really? This is what we're gonna do?"

source: http://deadspin.com/former-fcc-chairman-i-wasnt-that-outraged-at-janet-ja-1511194851

ESPN article: http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/10333439/wardrobe-malfunction-beginning-there-was-nipple

Huh. Back in 2004 after the incident, Powell said at the time as FCC chair, as quoted by the AP:

Like millions of Americans, my family and I gathered around the television for a celebration. Instead, that celebration was tainted by a classless, crass and deplorable stunt.

And a comment at the Deadspin article says:

I was there at that very Superbowl and I will tell you that when it happened, nobody in the stands were aware of it until after the game. My pals and I only heard about it on sports radio in the car, and we were like "Janet Jackson flashed her boobie??" And it wasn't because we weren't paying attention, but that you can barely fucking see who is performing from even decent seats, let alone a sticker-covered nipple. They weren't showing closeups on the jumbotron or anything, and there wasn't a gasp of outrage in the stadium. I bring this up because a lot of the whiners were trying to say that there were children in attendance at the game and god forbid they see a 1/3rd of a Jackson boob. Unless you were on the field, holding binoculars and actually paying attention, nobody saw shit.