janet jackson & justin timberlake

This is one stage performance that Janet Jackson will not forget in a hurry. The All For You singer was at the receiving end of a very embarrassing wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Super Bowl when then-beau Justin Timberlake ripped apart her jacket to reveal a breast — right in the middle of a gig! One of the most viewed videos in the world, the nipple slip drove a wedge in the Janet-Justin relationship and they broke up soon after. Whispers of it being a publicity stunt started doing the rounds, but was subsequently rubbished by both parties. Janet spoofed the incident while hosting an episode of Season 29 of Saturday Night Live — a prosthetic was used and censored for comical purposes.

adam lambert

Controversial crooner Adam Lambert — a former American Idol finalist — left mouths wide open at a performance at the American Music Awards two years ago. Simulated sex acts, lots of groping, grinding a dancer’s head against his pelvis and grabbing the crotch of another, and a kiss with a male bassist midway through the performance (top) summed up the For Your Entertainment hitmaker’s act. Audiences across the world cried foul, prompting TV broadcasters to edit out portions of the performance, including a telling oral sex act. Lambert’s defence? “Female performers have been doing this for years — pushing the envelope about sexuality — and the minute a man does it, everybody freaks out.... My goal was not to piss people off, it was to promote freedom of expression and artistic freedom.”

 

 

marilyn manson

When it comes to creating controversy on stage, Marilyn Manson is the undisputed poster boy. The popular American rocker has for long shocked the world with his antics. From a series of sex acts and on-stage masturbation to even smoking human bones, the bohemian singer’s appeal lies in the shock value that he manages to churn out every time.

 

 

eva mendes, paul rudd & rosario dawson

Mendes, Rudd and Dawson left the audience shocked at the 2011 edition of the Independent Spirit Awards. As Mendes and Rudd walked on stage to present an award, the Holly funnyman suddenly made a play for the Hitch hottie’s right breast, much to Mendes’s mock-shock. That wasn’t all. As if right on cue, Sin City actress Rosario Dawson walked in and aimed straight for Rudd’s crotch! The public foreplay left some grinning, some gaping and some grossed out.

kiss ’’ tell

Everyone kisses on stage, but some smooches have made it to the controversy books. If popstars Madonna and Britney Spears sent the world into a tizzy by locking lips for a full minute (top) at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards (Madonna kissed singer Christina Aguilera at the same venue on the same evening), then Speed actress Sandra Bullock caught Oscar winner Meryl Streep off-guard with a smack on the lips at the Critics’ Choice Awards last year (right). But the one India remembers best? Holly heartthrob Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS awareness event in Delhi in 2007 (left). The very public display of affection resulted in protests across the country with a court case being slapped on a red-faced Shilpa. The jury is still out on that one.