Janet Jackson's Designer Slams Justin Timberlake For Blaming Ripped-Top Row On Wardrobe Malfunction

Key Points:

• Janet Jackson's longtime designer, Wayne Scot Lukas, claims the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show incident where Justin Timberlake ripped off Janet's top was pre-planned, not a "wardrobe malfunction" as Timberlake has maintained.
• Lukas revealed that the outfit was designed to be torn off intentionally, initially to expose Janet's buttocks, but the plan was changed to reveal her breast to heighten the performance's impact.
• The designer criticized Timberlake for spreading falsehoods that damaged Janet's career and expressed frustration over not being included in Timberlake's upcoming docuseries to set the record straight.
• Wayne also blamed the show's producers for failing to cut the cameras away or blackout the screen immediately after the exposure, which was part of the original plan.
• Timberlake publicly apologized to Janet Jackson 17 years later in 2021, acknowledging his failure to speak up, while Janet faced significant professional setbacks following the incident, including blacklisting and project losses.