Janet Jackson’s notorious 2004 Super Bowl moment may not have been the accidental exposure that audiences were told it was. Her longtime fashion designer, Wayne Scot Lukas, now says the outfit was intentionally altered to create a revealing finale during her performance with Justin Timberlake, as reported by The New York Post.

Speaking to TMZ Sports, Lukas rejected the description that has followed the incident for years. He said calling it a “wardrobe malfunction” was false because Jackson’s clothing had been designed to expose her breast after the performance plan was changed to deliver something more provocative.

According to Lukas, the original concept called for Jackson to expose her butt to the cameras and the audience. He showed TMZ the G-string that she had been expected to wear for that version of the performance.

Janet Jackson's Super Bowl designer finally admits infamous 'wardrobe malfunction' was PLANNED

Wayne Scot Lukas blasts Justin Timberlake for damaging his career by popularizing 'wardrobe malfunction' Says original plan was to reveal Janet's rear end https://t.co/E2CYHeQmGM — RTVisual (@RT_Visual_on_X) November 4, 2026

The plan reportedly became more daring after Jackson’s choreographer, Gill, argued that the show needed a bigger moment. Lukas connected that thinking to the MTV appearance in which Britney Spears, Madonna and Christina Aguilera kissed in front of Timberlake.

“Brittany [Spears], Madonna and Christina Aguilera kissed in front of Justin on MTV. So, Janet’s choreographer Gill said, ‘We have to do something bigger.’ That’s how this became that,” Lukas said.

Lukas said the revised sequence was supposed to include safeguards in its presentation. The cameras were expected to cut away, and the screen was meant to go black, but neither of those steps occurred during the live performance.

Instead, while Jackson and Timberlake performed “Rock Your Body,” Timberlake pulled away part of Jackson’s bustier. The move exposed her right breast to the audience and viewers watching the Super Bowl broadcast.

Lukas said Timberlake’s public description of the episode placed responsibility on him as the designer. “He [Timberlake] coined the term wardrobe malfunction, which blamed it on me,” he told TMZ Sports.

The designer recalled that his mother’s Bible study group had been watching because they were excited to see his major project. He said Timberlake then characterized what happened as a minor clothing failure and told viewers they had been given something to discuss.

For Lukas, the consequences were anything but minor. “He never kind of made up with any of us,” he said. “We all lost a lot of work. I had morals clauses in my contracts; I was losing jobs. I just had to stay quiet and supported my friend Janet, and I did.”

Lukas called the outfit the “most functioning wardrobe in history,” arguing that the clothing itself had done exactly what it was designed to do. He instead blamed the producers for the execution of the sequence and said they left Jackson “out hanging.”

The 61-year-old designer discussed the incident while speaking about Timberlake’s upcoming documentary series, which is set to arrive on Apple TV in December. Lukas said he was not asked to participate, despite having designed and altered the clothing involved in the Super Bowl performance.

“No one asked me to speak about it, and I’m the only one who really knows what happened because I designed the outfit. I made the outfit, and I changed the outfit two days before the actual production,” Lukas said.

Lukas also declared that he knows the stories and secrets surrounding the moment because of his central role in preparing the outfit. His account directly challenges the description of the exposure as an unexpected failure of Jackson’s clothing.

Although Lukas was sharply critical of how Timberlake handled the aftermath, he said he does not need an apology from the pop star. What he wants instead is for Timberlake to tell the complete story of what happened around the performance.

Janet Jackson was originally meant to show her during her performance with Justin Timberlake, but the Britney-Madonna-Christina kiss in front of Justin made them change course in an effort to ‘one up’ them (according to the man who designed Janet’s outfit). https://t.co/ExjclKAzil

— Investigate Lou Taylor (@freebritplease) November 4, 2026

Jackson’s own position remains different from the account offered by her longtime designer. Throughout the years, she has maintained that the exposure was an accident and has never indicated publicly that it was a planned stunt that went wrong.

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