Tom Brady Under Fire For Comments About Janet Jackson Super Bowl Wardrobe Malfunction

Tom Brady has found himself in hot water this week after saying that the Janet Jackson Super Bowl halftime show wardrobe malfunction that occurred back in 2004 was “probably a good thing” for the NFL.

Brady Sounds Off

Brady made these comments on his “Let’s Go!” podcast while talking about Rihanna’s Super Bowl performance from this past weekend. 

“She’s a great performer,” Brady said of Rihanna. “Been at it for a long time, and she just blows everyone away all the time. She’s one of the unique performers – It’s great to see people on that stage too ’cause I think that stage of the Super Bowl is reserved for a lot of special people… they’re tough to top.”

Though Brady admitted that he rarely paid attention to the halftime shows when he was playing in the Super Bowl because he was focused on the game, he’s never forgotten the chaos that ensued after Justin Timberlake ripped off a part of Jackson’s top during their 2004 performance.

Brady recalled that after the New England Patriots beat the Carolina Panthers that year, “We came off the field and that was when we had the wardrobe malfunction with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson and they were asking me about that, and I couldn’t understand what they were telling me.” 

“They’re like, ‘Did you see the halftime show? Blah, blah, blah,’ and I’m like ‘No, I didn’t see anything. I was thinking about the game,'” he added. 

Brady went on to say that the Jackson incident was a “good thing” in the end for the NFL “because it got everybody to talk about it, and it was just more publicity and more publicity for halftime shows. Is any publicity bad publicity? That’s what they say, so who knows.”

Related: Tom Brady Breaks Down As He Retires ‘For Good’ Three Months After Divorce From Gisele Bündchen

Brady Hit With Backlash

Unfortunately for Brady, however, social media users have not taken kindly to his comments about Jackson. 

“He should be ashamed for treating Janet’s trauma like that,” one social media user commented, with another adding, “I don’t think he understands the amount of s— she went through after that backlash. That comment was too superficial and shallow.”

“Janet’s career and legacy was nearly DESTROYED due to the incident, and the ONLY thing Tom Brady can speak on NOW after 19 years is the publicity of the NFL?” a third user wrote. 

Other social media users got in on the action as well:

Related: Tom Brady ‘Talked’ To Ex-Wife Gisele Bündchen Before Retiring For Second Time

Brady Declines To Comment

Brady declined to comment when contacted by Fox News about this controversy. This comes one year after Jackson said that the infamous wardrobe malfunction “should not have happened,” adding that she refused an offer to perform with Timberlake again at the 2018 Super Bowl because she did not want to relive the trauma of what happened fourteen years before.

As for Timberlake, he’s publicly apologized and said that he “absolutely” took time with Jackson to “resolve the situation” and “make peace” after the incident. 

Brady has been in the news quite a lot recently, as he only just retired from the NFL after a 23 year career. It remains to be seen if he’ll respond to the latest backlash that he’s receiving over his comments about Jackson.