M.I.A.: Did she flip the bird during the Super Bowl halftime show?

Madonna may have made it through her Super Bowl halftime show with no wardrobe malfunctions. But one of her fellow performers still managed to sneak in a gesture that may not please the Federal Communications Commission.

As confirmed by a screengrab that circulated on Twitter, M.I.A. — who joined Madonna and Nicki Minaj for the track “Give Me All Your Luvin’ ” — raised her middle finger toward the camera during her performance. M.I.A.’s simultaneous use of the s-word appeared to have been bleeped out; moments after the incident, the screen went black a beat longer than usual for a television transition, especially in so orchestrated a show. NBC and the NFL issued apologies for the incident, with an NBC spokesman characterizing the finger-flipping episode as “a spontaneous gesture that our delay system caught late.”