M.I.A's middle finger causes tension between NBC and the NFL

It’s been eight years since the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake ‘wardrobe malfunction’ that notoriously made headlines Janet’s nipple was exposed during their halftime performance. It is because of that incident that in Super Bowl years to follow, the halftime show has consisted of male performers in the hopes of never airing anything offensive again.

This year’s Super Bowl marked the first year a woman performer was asked to take on the half time show, and Madonna ensured fans that no ‘malfunction’ would occur. That can be said about her co-performer, M.I.A, who has ensued a battle between NBC and the NFL over the singer flipping her middle finger in the camera.

According to ChicagoTribune,the British performer who performed with Madonna on Super Bowl Sunday has stirred up the same controversy CBS had dealt with 8 years prior. The networks have since issued apologizes, but not without blaming one another for the mishap.

NBC apologized that they were late in blurring the ‘offensive’ image, but notes that the league was responsible for hiring M.I.A to begin with. The network states, "The NFL hired the talent and produced the halftime show. Our system was late to obscure the inappropriate gesture and we apologize to our viewers."

According to the source, NBC claims they were “2/3 of a second late” on blurring the image.

The NFL issued its own statement, claiming, "There was a failure in NBC's delay system. The obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing, and we apologize to our fans."

Fellow performer Cee Lo Green told MTV that he, in fact, had no idea the finger flip even occurred until later. He tells MTV, “Honestly, I did not hear anything about it…There was no talk about it in the dressing room afterwards and we didn't stay long after the performance, because it was honestly a relief we had had it done. So I didn't hear anything until I got up to do the morning show, 'Today.' And television is a very sensitive [thing]."

Some reports claim that M.I.A may be responsible for any financial charges that are brought from the incident. She should beware, as CBS was fined over $500,000 eight years ago due to Janet’s mishap, as no pity will be taken in this respect.