US regulators will investigate whether decency rules were broken during the broadcast of the Super Bowl halftime show when pop diva Janet Jackson's bodice ripped open exposing her right breast.
During the break in the National Football League's championship game in Houston on Sunday, singer Justin Timberlake reached for Jackson as they performed a duet and tore off part of her black leather bustier, prompting widespread outrage.
The game garnered the highest Super Bowl ratings in six years, and the incident provoked wall-to-wall coverage on cable news networks. President Bush was asked to comment but said he fell asleep before the halftime show.
US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Mr Michael Powell promised a "thorough and swift" investigation of the stunt aired during one of the year's most popular American television broadcasts.
"That celebration was tainted by a classless, crass and deplorable stunt," Mr Powell said in a statement that was echoed by others on the panel. "Our nation's children, parents and citizens deserve better."
But despite a public outcry over the incident, police in Houston said no charges would be brought.
The CBS network, which broadcast the game, and MTV, which produced the football halftime bonanza, apologized for what they described as an unscripted moment. Both are units of media conglomerate Viacom Inc.
Timberlake said the baring of Jackson's breast resulted from a "wardrobe malfunction," while Jackson herself said the disrobing went further than she had anticipated.
"The decision to have a costume reveal at the end of my half-time show performance was made after final rehearsals," she said in a statement issued by her publicist. "MTV was completely unaware of it. It was not my intention that it go as far as it did. I apologise to anyone offended."
Still, Jackson's label Virgin Records, capitalised on the attention, announcing that her new single Just a Little Whilewill be released ahead of schedule.
Federal rules bar the broadcast of obscene material and limit the airing of indecent material that contains offensive sexual or excretory references to late night hours when children are unlikely to be watching.