Nelly is revisiting his second Super Bowl halftime show, explaining how one of television’s most controversial moments ended up taking attention away from his performance.
During a recent appearance on Carmelo Anthony’s 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, the St. Louis rapper recalled performing at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, which became widely remembered for Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction involving Justin Timberlake.
“I had the privilege of doing two Super Bowls. But everybody don’t remember the second one, but the second one came off of Tail Feather,” Nelly said, referring to his hit song “Shake Ya Tailfeather.” “We went and did that one, but we kind of we got overshadowed.”
The performance took place on Feb. 1, 2004, at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, with Janet Jackson headlining a show that also featured Nelly, Jessica Simpson, Diddy, and Kid Rock.
Justin Timberlake later made a surprise appearance alongside Jackson to perform “Rock Your Body.” During the performance, he pulled away part of her costume, briefly exposing her breast to millions of viewers watching the live broadcast.
Nelly explained that he didn’t actually witness the wardrobe malfunction because he had already wrapped up his performance and was heading off the field.
“The sets are changing so fast, right? So you know we just did what we did, you know you running back towards the tunnel with the dancers and everybody,” he explained.
The rapper said he suddenly heard a commotion behind him and tried to turn around to find out what was happening.
“And then you hear in the back… ‘OH MY GOD’… So you try running back out, but by then everything is coming your way cause that shit go on and off fast. So I actually did not see it in real time.”
Although he missed the incident itself, Nelly said the reaction backstage immediately suggested that something serious had happened.
“You just see people from MTV just pacing,” he recalled. “And it was a lot of white folks. They were red as hell… I ain’t never seen so much red, man. Them faces was red back there.”
The incident triggered widespread controversy, with Janet Jackson experiencing major professional consequences. Her music and videos were pulled from rotation across several Viacom-owned platforms, while CBS initially received a $550,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission. However, the fine was overturned in 2011.
Justin Timberlake, meanwhile, faced criticism over the relatively lighter backlash he received and eventually issued another public apology to Jackson in 2021.
Nelly had previously spoken about the controversy during a 2021 interview with SiriusXM’s Shade 45, saying Jackson “had to kind of take that bullet alone” and that “not everybody who was on stage hung in there.”
Despite his performance being overshadowed by the controversy, Nelly said he still enjoyed the experience and recognized the importance of performing on one of the world’s biggest stages.
“Yeah. But at that time, you know, your boy was still up, so it didn’t matter. I went ham anyway,” he said.
He also highlighted the career opportunities that come with performing at the Super Bowl, describing it as the biggest stage “bar none” and noting the potential increase in album sales artists can enjoy following the event.
