M.I.A.'s Obscene Super Bowl Gesture: Flips Bird to Save 'Street Cred' (VIDEO)
2 photos(PHOTO:REUTERS/Bjorn Larsson Rosvall/Scanpix )British songwriter M.I.A. performs during the Way Out West music festival in Gothenburg August 13, 2010.NBC Sports was forced to issue an apology after yet another slip up occurred live during Madonna's halftime performance, in front of over 110 million viewers.
During Madonna's performance of her new single, "Give Me All Your Luvin" one of her guest performers decided to throw a finger and use an expletive word in front of millions of viewers. Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, better known as M.I.A. is a British rapper, singer, and songwriter sang at one point during Madonna's performance, "I don't give a (expletive)". The incident caused an uproar on Twitter forcing an immediate response by NBC sports.
"The obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing and we apologize to our fans," said Brian McCarthy, spokesman for the NFL, which produced Madonna's halftime show.
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Producers attempted to blur the scene, within the delay period that was enforced after the Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake incident, but were a second too late.
In 2004, CBS was fined $550,000 following the incident in which Justin Timberlake exposed one of Janet Jackson's breasts. The newest incident, although perhaps not as severe, has still given NBC a reason to feel concerned.
"We apologize for the inappropriate gesture that aired during halftime," NBC spokesman Christopher McCloskey said. "It was a spontaneous gesture that our delay system caught late."
Although Madonna's show might have been packed with special effects and guest stars like Nicki Minaj, LMFAO, and Cee Lo Green, it appears that the most memorable moment will be the second cameras didn't want viewers to see.
The incident happened so quick, that some users on Tweeter are still questioning whether it actually happened. Others questioned whether the music artist had some sort of ulterior motive. "I'm sorry, but what exactly would possess someone to flip the bird at the Super Bowl halftime show?" JimJag asked.
One Twitter user even began a poll to decide what M.I.A. was thinking. Kiwi 28 suspected that the singer was trying to keep her bad girl reputation.
"I was more surprised that she agreed to sing with Madonna and that she agreed to sing at the super bowl!," Kiwi wrote. "I know we're in the age of "everybody sells out" but still both of these choices by M.I.A. really made no sense to me other than money. I guess she felt she might get to keep her "street cred" by flipping the bird!"
