Apologies Issued For M.I.A.'s Super Bowl Halftime Show Hand Gesture

Remember the wardrobe malfunction that was seen around the world back in 2004 when Justin Timberlake ripped off Janet Jackson's bustier? Well, the past several years have gone without a hitch, but the NFL and NBC have had to apologize for last night's obscene hand gesture.

OK! GALLERY: M.I.A. TOTES HER TWO MEN TO THE LATE SHOWM.I.A.'s extended middle finger gave reason to pause as she flashed it in front of 110 million viewers on NBC and countless others online! During last night's performance of Madonna's single, "Give Me All Your Luvin'," the British singer appeared to also sing, "I don't give a expletive."Brian McCarthy, spokesperson for the NFL, quickly issued this statement: "The obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing and we apologize to our fans."OK! NEWS: MADONNA ROCKS OUT HALFTIME SHOWAccording to The Associated Press (via The Wall Street Journal), NBC didn't waste any time in apologizing either, considering the screen briefly went blurry in a late attempt to cut out the shot by less than a second from the live performance."The NFL hired the talent and produced the halftime show," said NBC spokesperson Christopher McCloskey. "Our system was late to obscure the inappropriate gesture and we apologize to our viewers." And a lot of viewers at that! During the Giants 21-17 victory, this was apparently the most-watched U.S. TV event ever. Interestingly enough, Brian indicated M.I.A. didn't do anything similar during rehearsals so the league didn't have any reason to believe that gesture would be pulled during the show.