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.”
