Even icons have their “moments.” On Friday, legendary emcee Lil’ Kim graced her presence at the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop held at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx but endured a major wardrobe malfunction when her nipple was exposed while performing her set.
The Queens native donned a blue Gucci jacket with a shimmery crop top and thigh-high red patent leather boots when the nip slip took place but she didn’t let that stop her from delivering a show-stopping performance.
It brings us back to a time when the fashion guru turned heads when she showed up at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards wearing a single-sleeved vintage purple jumpsuit with iridescent lilac accessorized with silver and purple seashells. Her left tittie was left to hang and was concealed with just a small purple pastie.
The performance also brings back memories of Janet Jackson’s 2004 appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show when Justin Timberlake pulled her leather corset to reveal her pierced nipple. The incident took place just as the N’SYNC crooner sang: “I will have you naked by the end of this song.” It is still unclear whether the malfunction was staged.
In an episode of the podcast Let’s Go, Brady recalled all the chatter that came in the wake of the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake controversy.
The then-26-year-old quarterback said following the performance, everyone’s attention seemed to veer toward the malfunction, and no one seemed to care that his team won the game that night. However, he said he had no idea what was going on because he was so focused on the game.
“We came off the field and that was when we had the wardrobe malfunction with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson,” Brady told the show’s host. “And they were asking me about that. I couldn’t even understand what they were telling me about. It took a while for us to figure out exactly what had gone on.”
That night would end up being one of the most talked about moments in pop culture history and was widely regarded as “nipplegate,” which elicited a colossal controversy that plagued the NFL and its sponsors for years to come. Both CBS and the halftime show’s producer MTV issued apologies for nudity, as well as Jackson and Timberlake.
Next year marks 20 years since the scandal reverberated throughout the nation, but Brady insists that it didn’t do anything but help the league.
“I think in the end, it was probably a good thing for the NFL,” Brady concluded. “Because everyone got to talk about it, and it was just more publicity and more publicity for halftime shows.”
“Is any publicity bad publicity?” he asked rhetorically. “That’s what they say, so, who knows?”
