As obscenity goes its hardly up there with the Pistols calling Bill Grundy ‘a dirty fucking rotter’, but still, MIA has managed to shock and outrage middle America with her guest spot during Madonna’s half time Superbowl performance. In a move that's either priceless free publicity or Stateside career suicide,  The British singer concluded her 10 second rap on Madges’ new single Gimme All Your Luvin’ with the line ‘I don’t give a shit’ (although it sounded a lot more like ‘I don’t give a sh...’) and gave the camera her middle finger.

The picky out there might observe that this is exactly what MIA does in the video for the song, so it can’t have come as that big a surprise.... However Superbowl broadcaster NBC has released a wholesale apology, saying that

“The obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing, and we apologize to our fans."

And, as opposed to the infamous Janet Jackson nipple flashing ‘wardrobe malfunction’ of 2004, the station are taking full responsibility for the incident, claiming that it was their fault they didn’t blank it out in time.

It may seem odd to UK viewers that such a small thing could put the wind up a nation used to insane levels of sex and violence fed to it on a daily basis, but even arbiters of cool such as Pitchfork have got their knickers in a twist, stating that

“in the few bars Madonna was kind enough to grant her during the biggest television event of the year, M.I.A.'s message to America was simply, "Fuck you."

Calm down dear! It's only a hand....

You can see Fingerflashgate (as it shall be known) below, or for something a bit more edifying, you could just watch MIA’s quality new video beneath.