SINCE JANET Jackson’s right nipple popped out during the half-time show at the 2004 Super Bowl, the term “wardrobe malfunction” has become part of the rich history of American football’s showpiece event.
At the weekend, as this year’s clash between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals neared a climax, TV viewers in Tuscon, Arizona, witnessed an intimate exposure of a completely different order.
Shortly after 7.30pm, with less than three minutes to play in a tightly-fought final, the Cardinals had taken the lead with a crucial touchdown. Fans watching in Arizona would have been forgiven for scenting a victory for their team against the odds. Then the pictures from Tampa disappeared.
Instead, viewers in the Tuscon area were astonished to see a woman unzipping a man’s trousers to reveal “full male nudity” followed by what was described as “a graphic act”.
Somehow, the feed from Super Bowl XLIII had been mixed up with a 30-second excerpt from Club Jenna, an adult cable TV channel featuring Jenna Jameson, one of America’s most famous porn actors.
“I just figured it was another commercial until I looked up,” Cora King, of Marana, told the Arizona Daily Star newspaper.
The Tucson-based KVOA-TV said it was “dismayed and disappointed” at the interruption, which affected viewers taking a cable feed from Comcast, a cable TV company. “KVOA will investigate what happened,” said the company president Gary Nielsen.
