And now for this year’s contrived faux controversy from the half-time show, brought to you in part by easily offended old people who don’t actually know how real people interact with each other. During the half-time show, M.I.A. — who performed with Madonna along with LMFAO, Nicki Minaj and Cee Lo Green — flipped the bird to the cameras for all of, like, a fraction of a second. Of course, this millisecond of slight offense was enough to enrage the Parents Television Council, the arbiters of cranky old people who want you to get off their damn lawn already, which quickly prompted apologies from everyone and their dogs. RadarOnline reports:

Both the NFL and NBC were quick to issue apologies in the wake of the off-color display, which was seen by more than 110 million viewers on NBC. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said “the obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing and we apologize to our fans.” NBC spokesman Christopher McCloskey — noting that “the NFL hired the talent and produced the halftime show” — said the network’s “system was late to obscure the inappropriate gesture, and we apologize to our viewers.”

Honestly, I think the more appropriate response to this would have been something along the lines of “blow it out your asses, you goddamn ninnies.” It’s a flash of middle finger for Christ’s sake. Are you that immature that you cannot handle a fleeting glimpse of a solitary finger? God help you if you were to actually go outside and interact with real people, because then you would have to come into contact with people who look and think differently than you. SAVE US, INVISIBLE BEARDED CLOUD GIANT!