The team behind 'Framing Britney Spears' is investigating the Janet Jackson Super Bowl 'wardrobe malfunction'

“I wouldn’t call it a wardrobe ‘malfunction’ in a million years,” said Wayne Scot Lukas, Janet Jackson’s former stylist. “It was the most functioning wardrobe in history.”

Lukas isn’t the only one piping up about Jackson’s 2004 Super Bowl appearance with Justin Timberlake. The team behind the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears (stream now on Crave) is re-examining the incident as well, in a new doc about the halftime show that left so many so inexplicably shook.

Left/Right TV will once again work with the Times to look into the incident that nearly sunk Jackson’s career while providing a huge boost to Timberlake’s. Lukas went on record earlier this month, telling Page Six that Justin had “insisted on doing something bigger than [when ex girlfriend Britney Spears kissed Madonna at the MTV Video Music Awards]. He wanted a reveal.”

The stylist also alleges that it was Timberlake who dubbed the moment — when the singer tore away part of Jackson’s costume to reveal most of her right breast — a “wardrobe malfunction.”

It’s likely that Lukas will get to tell his story once again in the doc. Page Six’s source says the production team is “reaching out to everyone who was involved: dancers, stylists, directors. Everyone.”

A crucial component of the Spears documentary was how it highlighted the media’s culpability in feeding into a misogynistic narrative that set Britney up as the bad guy in her breakup with Timberlake. It also zeroed in on Timberlake’s own culpability in that storyline, stoking rumours about her alleged infidelity (and making a music video about it to top it all off).

In February, Timberlake posted an apology on Instagram in which he named both Spears and Jackson as women he “cared for” and “respected.”

“I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right,” he wrote. “I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism.”

According to sources, however, Timberlake is not the only target this new doc will be taking aim at. The investigation will also focus on “the fallout and the suits who f--ked over Janet [at] Viacom.” It was Viacom who produced the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show and failed to stand up for their artist when she faced a wave of unfair accusations that bordered on bullying.

When Jackson was deemed less than appropriately apologetic about the incident, says The New York Post, network CEO Les Moonves attempted to ruin her career, banning her from the Grammys later that year. Timberlake, who teared up during his own apology, was allowed to perform.

Ideally, there will also be an examination of the misogyny inherent in forcing a woman to apologize for showing a (not even fully uncovered) breast and perhaps even some ruminating on how that’s permitted when the image is controlled not by the woman herself but by a TV network or film studio. Ultimately, fans might get to hear about the incident directly from Janet. The superstar has a two-part biographical project about her life set to premiere in 2022. 

BEFORE YOU GO: Britney Spears breaks her silence on documentary

[video_embed id='2171640']BEFORE YOU GO: Britney Spears breaks her silence on documentary[/video_embed]