Why Is Mickey Rooney Bummed?

By Rebecca Winters

A year after Janet Jackson's faulty bustier burst into a controversy over values, another star's plan to show some (wrinklier) skin during the Super Bowl has been foiled. In a 15-second ad shot for the cold remedy Airborne, MICKEY ROONEY, 84, is lounging in a sauna when a woman coughs, prompting the apparently germophobic Andy Hardy star to scream and scamper off, dropping his towel and exposing his backside in his haste. Fox deemed the spot "inappropriate for broadcast television," a rep says, and has declined to air it during the Feb. 6 game. But Rooney, who says he was planning a big Super Bowl bash to share the ad with pals, protests that "there's not anything sexy about it." Who are we to disagree with Mick?