In a bit of reporting that could be described as both a “bombshell” and “totally fucking obvious to anyone who was paying attention,” HuffPo revealed that the longtime CEO and Chairman of CBS Les Moonves was so hopping mad about 2004's Super Bowl “wardrobe malfunction” that he pledged to ruin Janet Jackson’s career when she refused to apologize.
In case you’re wondering, “Hmm, why did he only want to ruin the career of the woman who was just standing there and not the man who ripped her top off,” the answer is a combination of “you should be smart enough to figure that out on your own” and “because Justin Timberlake cried his little eyes out during an apology.”
Per HuffPo:
Moonves banned Jackson and Timberlake from the 2004 Grammys broadcast airing on CBS the week after the Super Bowl. But Timberlake was allowed to perform after he tearfully apologized for the incident, according to conversations Moonves had with my sources.
The CBS chief executive, according to sources who spoke to me, was furious that Jackson didn’t make a similarly contrite apology to him. The fallout from the incident inflicted significant damage on Jackson’s career ― which until that point had produced 10 No. 1 hits ― and still reverberates to this day.
He prohibited MTV and VH1 from airing Jackson’s videos and demanded all “Viacom-owned radio stations to stop playing Jackson’s songs.” Her career suffered irreparable damage... all because she didn’t cry him a river of an apology like Justin Timberlake. (What, exactly, did she even have to apologize for?)
As a friend pointed out to me this morning in a text message, “Justin always cries!! Remember his episode of Punk’d??”
Reader, I do.
[HuffPo]
Some good news: TMZ reports that Tyler Perry has offered Geoffrey Owens a 10-episode stint on his OWN show The Haves and the Have Nots less than one week after a photo of him working at a Trader Joe’s went viral. I guess this tweet wasn’t some joke:
[TMZ]
- Rob McElhenney has a very ripped new bod and it seemed like a nightmare to achieve. [ONTD]
- Seems like there’s more draMaAAaaaAAA between Jeff Lewis and Jenni Pulos. [Us Weekly]
- Blake Shelton “has been appointed to the board of a foundation that will raise money for wildlife conservation in his home state of Oklahoma.” [Page Six]
- Pics or it didn’t happen. (It didn’t happen.) [Page Six]
- Jason Hairston died by suicide. [People]