‘Laguna Beach:’ How Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl Performance Almost Scrapped the Iconic MTV Show
Though MTV has had a ton of popular shows over the years, Laguna Beach is amongst its most iconic. Premiering in 2004, the show followed eight teenagers as they navigated their life in the coastal city of Orange County. The show made household names out of Lauren Conrad and Kristen Cavallari and sparked its popular spinoff, The Hills. But Laguna Beach was almost dead in the water before it even began, thanks to Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson’s infamous Super Bowl performance.
Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl performance caused major controversy
Back in 2004, the very same year that Laguna Beach premiered, Jackson and Timberlake performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. While performing the NSYNC alum’s song, “Rock Your Body,” Timberlake exposed one of Jackson’s breasts. While some saw it as a wardrobe malfunction, others felt it was a stunt. Because the exposure of the “All For You” singer’s nipple coincided with the lyrics “Bet I’ll have you naked by the end of this song,” many people felt it was intentional.
Timberlake and Jackson’s performance sparked no small amount of outrage. However, it was Jackson who faced the most ire and was banned from the Super Bowl. Many parents were particularly upset by the performance, as the Halftime Show had always been billed as appropriate for people of all ages. And it turns out the parents at Laguna Beach High School were among those who were outraged.
‘Laguna Beach’ was banned from filming at Laguna Beach High School
While the cast members of Laguna Beach attended Laguna Beach High School, they were never filmed at school. And there’s a good reason for this. Initially, the Laguna Beach Unified School District board members and MTV had a solid deal. According to the LA Times, the board member initially voted to let MTV film on campus. In return, they were to receive $40,000 for college scholarships and royalties from the reality TV show. However, after Timberlake and Jackson’s performance, they backed out of the deal.
Since MTV was the network responsible for the Super Bowl Halftime show of 2004, parents felt that the network wasn’t prioritizing the safety of children. Thus, they made the decision not to allow the network to film their students on campus. “I just don’t see any way the school can benefit from this or the community,” Ketta Brown, who was the then president of the Laguna Beach High School PTA, shared. “Did you watch the Super Bowl? Let’s put it this way: I would prefer that my children not watch that network.”
The reality TV show still became a huge success for MTV
Though Laguna Beach was initially supposed to follow the lives of its cast members on and off campus, the Super Bowl Halftime show caused things to pivot. Ultimately, the reality TV show was limited to only filming its cast when they weren’t in school. But despite the change, the show still became a hit. Still, it would be interesting to see how the show would have been impacted if MTV was allowed to film at the high school.
