I can’t believe we’re still talking about this

CBS is in court this week challenging a $550,000 fine levied on the network by the Federal Communications Commission after the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show where Janet Jackson accidentally exposed part of her breast during a routine with Justin Timberlake.
According to an AP article, the network accused the FCC of applying “mushy” and newly restrictive standards when it fined CBS for the half-second of partial nudity, while the agency called CBS indifferent to the risk that “a highly sexualized performance” might cross the line.
90 million people were watching the event when Timberlake ripped off part of Jackson’s bustier and appeared shocked when almost nothing was underneath it (pictured to your left - AP Photo).
But, I’ll tell you what wasn’t underneath it—a naked breast. Jackson was wearing some sort of metal thing over the nipple area (can I write that on the Internet?), preventing exposure of the one part that should have garnered the network a fine of some sort. I was one of those 90 million people watching the broadcast. I was talking to someone when half of the room gasped. I turned to look at the TV and saw and aerial shot of the stadium.
I’m assuming many of the 90 million people watching the broadcast were in the same boat, coming back from the kitchen or the bathroom moments later, asking, “Did I miss anything?”
I’m glad a governmental agency created to hand out broadcast licenses has become the agency that polices the airwaves for the small percent of Americans who get offended by a millisecond of forgettable partial nudity and sexual suggestion. You know what else has sexual suggestion? EVERYTHING! From Barker's Beauties to Ginger on The Real Estate Pros. Hell, half of the programming on PBS, which the last time I checked received governmental funding, has sexual suggestion — and our tax dollars pay for it. Has anyone ever complained about PBS?
It comes down to this. The FCC overstepped its boundaries. There was no nudity. Sorry, without that (or swearing —violence is OK), there is no reason to fine the network.