During the half-time of the 2004 American Superbowl, the white male Justin Timberlake performing with the black female Janet Jackson suddenly pulled off part of her costume revealing, for nine-sixteenths of a second, her right breast, though leaving the nipple still covered. Janet covered her breast so fast it was easy to miss the moment.
Unfortunately, America didn’t. The two singers apologised for what became known as the “wardrobe malfunction”, but the media and some powerful men continued to object to what happened.
Janet was reportedly due to be a presenter at the 2004 Grammy Awards but was disinvited. Justin was given two awards at the ceremony. In addition, CBS chairman Les Moonves banned radio stations, along with the company television networks VH1 and MTV, from playing her music. Nevertheless, the public keenness to see the clip of the event helped to save the faltering early days of YouTube, which was being developed by three men, turning it into a goldmine.
The story of the injustice against Janet is the central thread of Nine Sixteenths, which mixes verbatim dialogue with the help of lip-syncing to recordings, with dance sequences, songs and snippets from Paula Varjack’s commentary that includes how the events connected to her personal history.
Paula, an engaging narrator, describes her enthusiasm for the songs and recalls, as a youth wanting to practice the dance moves with her friend who couldn't do them. It led to a break in their friendship. But Janet continued to be an icon in her life, despite her vanishing media profile.
Later in the performance, she and her three black female performers who helped devise the show, Pauline Mayers, Endy McKay and in week one Julienne Doko, will get almost the entire audience joining enthusiastically in singing one of her songs.
The show is entertaining with an eye for the prejudice suffered by women of colour. At one point, we are reminded of the shocking comment made about Diane Abbott by a white man of wealth saying, “she should be shot.”
Paula says that sometimes she is “afraid that one day I’ll be walking down the street or boarding a train when someone” with social problems will decide they are caused by “people with the colour of skin like me.”
The devised nature of much of the show can feel at times lacking in solid development and dramatic tension, but the parts are always interesting even if the focus is very loose.
Towards the end of the performance, we hear that the white male CBS chairman Les Moonves, who did a good deal to stigmatise and banish Janet Jackson from the media, resigned in 2018 from the CBS network after multiple claims of sexual harassment (which he denies).
Paula admits we now see a more diverse range of performers, but points out that behind the scenes, those who run the arts are still mostly white and male.