Super Bowl 2019: Fans Call out Double Standard Between Adam Levine and Janet Jackson

Twitter users were not happy with the amount of skin Adam Levine showed during the Super Bowl LIII [...]

By Libby Birk

Twitter users were not happy with the amount of skin Adam Levine showed during the Super Bowl LIII halftime show in Atlanta Sunday night. Many pointed out the double standard compared to Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction while performing at the same show with Justin Timberlake in 2004.

Levine – who stripped down from a long trench coat to a jacket to another jacket to an ugly tank top before baring it all during the show's finale — was the subject of plenty of angry tweets wondering why it was OK for him to show his nipples after Jackson's career suffered following her accidental exposé.

Actress and talk show host Aisha Tyler was one fo the voices chiming in on the conversation.

"Why is it okay to see Adam Levine'a boobs and not Janet Jackson's?" she wrote. "Asking for a friend."

The Bachelor and The Bachelorette star Kaitlyn Bristowe had a similar train of thought. "WHY CAN ADAM SHOW HIS NIPS BUT JANET CANT," she wrote.

"Janet Jackson's good reputation was tarnished for 50 percent less nipple than we saw today," New York Post reporter Brooke Rogers wrote.

"Wait a damn minute!! Janet Jackson show's a tiny bit of nipple, and all hell breaks loose. He takes off his shirt and nothing?!! What??!!!! I'm outraged!" one Twitter user said.

"Super Bowl halftime nipple rules feel inconsistent," ESPN reporter Katie Nolan said.

"How am I supposed to explain Adam Levine's nipples to my children??" comedian Zack Bornstein joked.

Journalist Katie Couric wrote that the halftime show was "starting to make me uncomfortable."

Others poked fun at Levine's tattoos. "Anyone else think Adam Levine looks like an Ed Hardy T-shirt?" one Twitter user wrote.

"Adam Levine looks like he brought 12 packs of fake sailor tattoos from a liquidation sale," someone else wrote.

Some compared Maroon 5's performance to gravity-defying stunts done by halftime performers in the past. "KATY PERRY RODE IN ON A GIANT METAL LION. LADY GAGA FLEW THROUGH THE FREAKING AIR. AND YALL ARE ALL HYPED UP BECAUSE ADAM LEVINE TOOK HIS SHIRT OFF???????????" one angry Twitter user said.

"The Patriots winning another Super Bowl after Adam Levine took his shirt off is the worst thing to happen to the dirt of Atlanta in a long time," someone quipped.

Despite performances from supporting acts Travis Scott, Big Boi and even SpongeBob SquarePants and company, social media's reaction to the halftime show as a whole was underwhelming, with the same tepid feelings extending to the expensive ads and even the game itself.

The New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl game in NFL history with a final score of 13-3. A touchdown was not scored until the fourth quarter, setting a record for the longest time into a game without a touchdown.

But the records made Sunday night weren't all bad. The win marked Brady's sixth championship in nine attempts, making him the quarterback with the most appearances and victories. He and the Patriots have been to three consecutive Super Bowls and four of the past five, winning three of them.

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