Today I Learned: YouTube Happened Because Some Guy Wanted To See Janet Jackson's Nipple

Before YouTube became a cesspool of keyboard warriors, influencers doing dumb stuff for clicks and a focal point in discussions over censorship and free speech, it was just a simple little video sharing website. So how exactly did this internet behemoth start? Well, it all began with the infamous 2004 Super Bowl half-time show performance – dubbed “Nipplegate” – involving Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson.

For those who are unaware, “Nipplegate” was an infamous incident during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show where Justin Timberlake ripped off a part of Janet Jackson’s costume during their performance of ‘Rock Your Body’ and exposed her right breast to the entire world.

The reaction was immediate and overwhelming, and “Nipplegate” became one of the defining pop-culture moments of the 2000s. It was the very first viral video before viral videos even became a thing.

Now if something like that happened today, there would be thousands of videos of it uploaded onto YouTube and social media within seconds. But since this was 2004, there was nothing of the sort so finding footage of anything was nearly impossible.

In the months that followed ‘Nipplegate,” soon-to-be YouTube founders, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim all wanted to see video of Janet Jackson’s nipple being exposed by Justin Timberlake but were stymied by the inability to find anything on the internet.

It wasn’t just nipples the YouTube co-founders hit a wall with as footage of the 2004 tsunamis were also ridiculously difficult to come by. These two incidents was what convinced the trio that a video sharing website could work.

Armed with Janet Jackson’s nipple and a dash of the 2004 tsunamis as inspiration, the trio got to work and ultimately built what we now know YouTube.

So there you have it. If it weren’t for Justin Timberlake getting a bit too handsy with Janet Jackson during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show, we wouldn’t have gotten one of the most important things to ever happen to the internet and we would’ve gotten some lame video website instead.