M.I.A.’s Middle Finger Gets The Lame NBC Apology You Expected

This morning, parents everywhere are being forced to have tough conversations with their children after they were exposed to something so incredibly lewd during last night’s Super Bowl Halftime show that it’s downright un-American. If you watched the big game, you probably already know that I’m talking about our national nightmare – witnessing M.I.A. flip everyone the bird on (semi) live television.

NBC’s attempt to protect us from this horrible gesture failed, as their censoring system kicked in too late. Super Bowl viewers were treated to a blurred out screen a couple seconds following the middle finger incident. M.I.A. also appeared to say “sh*t,” but it was barely audible and overshadowed by the gesture.

NBC was quick to release a statement on the incident, calling it a “spontaneous gesture” similar to Janet Jackson’s famous wardrobe malfunction a few years back. “We apologize for the inappropriate gesture that aired during half-time. It was a spontaneous gesture that our delay system caught late,” they said.

The NFL’s statement was a bit sharper and put the blame on NBC’s broadcasting failures.

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.

Continuing the mini war-of-words, NBC amended their statement to say that the NFL “hired the talent and produced the halftime show.”

It’s comforting to see that both the NBC and the NFL seem to be containing the outrage.

M.I.A.’s “flip-slip” is nowhere near as shocking as Janet Jackson’s nip-slip, but it definitely appears to be overshadowing Madonna’s performance. And M.I.A. has definitely succeeded in spurring on the country’s fake outrage machine.

If you’re shocked by a split-second middle finger then you obviously haven’t been paying attention to Bill Belichick’s wardrobe. Talk about offensive. And aren’t we missing a bigger point here? That trying to shock the world during the Super Bowl Halftime show after the legendary wardrobe malfunction is like trying to shock a SNL audience after Sinead O’Connor ripped up the picture of the Pope. You’re going to have to doing something more than flip the bird to really shake things up.