Janet Jackson was once signed on with ABC and the late, great Lena Horne to star as Lena in a biopic. According to reports, Ms. Horne was originally very pleased that Janet was going to play her, she thought very highly of ‘Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty.’ Needless to say our girl, Janet, was equally thrilled after landing the part of such a huge icon that she grew up admiring.
ABC got the ball rolling and things were about to get started with production…Janet had even paid homage to Lena, by wearing vintage makeup up that was similar to Lena Horne’s style on the cover of Vanity Fair back in the day. So what was the problem? How did it go from major anticipation, to Ms. Horne. apparently giving a resounding “Hell no!” to Janet (well, maybe not in those exact words, but from the way it went down, it seems like that’s what she probably wanted to say). See how this hold thing unraveled faster than you could say “Stormy Weather” (for our younger old schoolers, that’s a classic Lena Horne song)…
Blame The Superbowl?
You can blame Lena Horne’s change of heart on Janet’s “Nipplegate” scandal, as reported by several major news outlets at that time. Remember that whole Superbowl ‘slip-up’ in 2004? Well, after Janet had that infamous ‘Superbowl wardrobe malfunction’ –when Justin tapped Janet’s right breast and made it pop out of her shirt on national TV — Lena was reportedly furious and said she no longer wanted any parts of the Janet Jackson business.
Lena and her daughter, Gail, reportedly got the wheels churning to get Janet outta there:
Via Today: ABC executives resisted Horne’s demand, but Jackson representatives told the trade newspaper that she left willingly after Horne and her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, asked that she not take part.
Technically, Lena didn’t have 100% control over who gets fired from the film, because ABC had to be willing to agree to it as well. So Lena and Gail went to ABC to demand that they let Janet go, but ABC was allegedly like, ‘No way!’…especially with the amount of publicity Janet had
just stirred up with her Superbowl stunt.
Therefore, Lena and her daughter reportedly did the next best thing- took their concerns straight to Janet. They had a talk and explained to Janet that Lena didn’t approve of Janet’s raunchy stunt. Lena then simply requested for Janet to pull out of the film. Janet complied and contacted ABC. So although there have been two separate rumors about this — that Lena fired her; and that Janet quit — in essence it was more like Lena said ‘Janet I don’t want you to step foot on the set of my biopic’ and Janet was like ‘Well fine, I’m out…peace.’
And that’s how the Lena Horne biopic situation all went down ILOSM family. But there’s more…
More Trouble Emerged For Janet
Janet had a few other projects that came to a screeching halt after that ‘Nipplegate’ scandal: Janet was supposed to present an award at the Grammy’s that same year and CBS allegedly told her ‘No’ (they allowed Justin Timberlake to still appear though, go figure); Disney World’s theme park even yanked Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” jacket off a Mickey Mouse statue which was originally paying homage to Janet’s legacy.
It’s been years since Janet’s stunt and Timberlake is determined to stick to his story- that it was a “wardrobe malfunction,” while according to an MTV exec,’ Janet, Justin, and MTV all knew about the planned breast slip prior to the show. Here’s what they reported at the time (in 2004):
‘”Janet Jackson engineered it,” MTV Chief Executive Tom Freston told Reuters in an interview.
Freston, whose company produced the halftime show for CBS, said Timberlake was informed of the stunt just moments before he took the stage with Jackson. The stunt, which Timberlake said was due to a “wardrobe malfunction,” sparked widespread viewer complaints.“There’s now going to be an FCC investigation into the nipple,” Freston told reporters at a news conference.
Jackson took the blame: “The decision to have a costume reveal at the end of my half-time show performance was made after final rehearsals. MTV was completely unaware of it. It was not my intention that it go as far as it did.”‘ -via Daily Mail
At least Janet has moved on from her Superbowl scandal. These days she’s loving life with her son, Eissa, who was born in January 2017. Props to Janet for giving birth at 50!
-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view
