Janet Jackson Wrongly Fined for Nipplegate 2004, Says Court

AFP/Getty Images

It all seems so long ago when Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performed 'Rock Your Body' at the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime show. There were the lights, the music, the "I bet I'll have you naked by the end of this song" line and the half-a-second breast flash, which caused an FCC backlash.

Oh, the drama!

Eight years after that momentous "wardrobe malfunction" and several court proceedings later, Janet Jackson and CBS have come out triumphant!

Philly's U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that the FCC was wrong when issuing a $550,000 fine to Jackson and the network that aired the fated nip-slip, Reuters reports.

The court stated that after decades of allowing "fleeting" indecencies to air, FCC had no right to arbitrarily change their rules. They shouldn't have fined the network and the saucy star without informing them of the regulations change prior to Nipplegate.

The FCC insists that the decision was made on "procedural grounds and did not diminish the commission's authority to regulate indecent content."

Meanwhile, Andrew Jay Schwartzman, policy director of Media Access Project stated: "Like the 'wardrobe malfunction' itself, there is less here than meets the eye ... The decision is a reminder that the FCC can't change its enforcement policies in the face of public pressure, and that it needs to take special care when First Amendment rights are at issue."

For those supporting Janet Jackson and freedom of expression, that's a "Nip, Nip Hooray!"

Watch Janet Jackson's Wardrobe Malfunction (NSFW)