Was it really necessary?
Read more: Madonna halftime show: NBC, NFL apologize for M.I.A.'s 'inappropriate gesture' during Super Bowl performance - NY Daily News
Fumbling the block of M.I.A.???s middle finger salute during the Super Bowl half-time show left NBC and the NFL apologizing afterward.
???The NFL hired the talent and produced the halftime show,??? an NBC spokesman said. ???Our system was late to obscure the inappropriate gesture and we apologize to our viewers.???
The incident occurred after M.I.A and Nicki Minaj joined Madonna on the much-hyped performance.
The two were part of Madonna???s new song, ???Give Me All Your Luvin,?????? where M.I.A. delivers the line ???I don???t give a s---,??? which was supposed to be turned into ???shhhhhhhhh.???
A spokeswoman for Madonna said she???d have no comment.
The Parents Television Council, a watchdog group, has already blasted NBC and the NFL in a statement for putting on such randy performers in the first place.
???It is unfortunate that a spectacular sporting event was overshadowed once again by broadcasting the selfish acts of a desperate performer,??? the PTC said in a statement to TMZ.
The group slammed NBC for messing up the system that would have prevented millions of seeing the offensive gesture.
???Either the NFL and NBC will take immediate steps to hold those accountable for this offensive material in front of a hundred million Americans,??? the statement read, ???or they will feebly sit back and do nothing,???
M.I.A. reportedly did not rehearse the middle finger move before Sunday???s live telecast, which was likely viewed by a record number of people. Last year???s Super Bowl, the most watched ever, averaged 111 million viewers.
In the metropolitan area, 75% of the television sets turned on were tuned to the Super Bowl half-time show, according to Nielsen. Those numbers do not include countless bars, college dorms and elsewhere where groups gathered to watch and not measured by Nielsen.
National audience levels for the game will be out Monday afternoon.
Read more: Madonna halftime show: NBC, NFL apologize for M.I.A.'s 'inappropriate gesture' during Super Bowl performance - NY Daily News