Britney Spears is known for speaking her truth, and usually her throngs of fans are more than happy to throw their full support behind the singer as she'd rediscovered her freedom post-conservatorship. One of her latest public screeds crossed a line for many fans, however, when the “Toxic” singer seemingly fat-shamed Christina Aguilera’s backup dancers. Spears’ followers may be fiercely loyal, but they definitely took to the comments to let her know this was not OK.
The singer, who recently released a new song with Elton John, posted a Rodney Dangerfield quote to Instagram in which the late comedian said, “I found there was only one way to look thin: hang out with fat people.” It’s a pretty cringey joke to begin with from the "no respect" comic, but Britney Spears made things worse when she seemingly referenced her former pop star rival Christina Aguilera’s dancers in her caption, which read:
I wish I could have chosen the nannies for my children … my dancers … I mean if I had Christina Aguilera’s dancers I would have looked extremely small 💃💃💃… I mean why not talk about it ?? Don’t you think my confidence would have been a bit better if I could choose where I lived, ate, whom I called on the phone, dated and who was on stage with me !!! It’s hard sometimes now I see how much of my womanhood was stripped away at that time and every person sat back and didn’t say a thing !!! Anyways … I will be here talking bout things people NEVER talked about 🙄🙄🙄 !!!
The majority of her caption is presumably talking about the freedoms that were stripped away by her father during her 13-year conservatorship, in which she’d said she was not allowed to drive, drink alcohol, or make other life choices for herself. However, fans really didn’t like the way Britney Spears brought the dancers into it without further clarification, and they let her know it in the comments section. Here are a handful of responses:
- This one is a no — emmasalvini
- Britney PLEASE don't do that way...... — lucas_olvr
- Oof. Love Britt- but this was in bad taste. Body shaming to make yourself feel better is not where it’s at. — devynheaven
- What about picking dancers based of ability and talent — robertsalley
- well, this is shitty. — _bigolebug_
Many of the singer’s Instagram followers asked her to delete the post, but as of this writing, it was still active. Christina Aguilera has not responded publicly, but Page Six reports that she did unfollow Britney Spears on Instagram.
It seems like there’s always been tension between Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, who were two of the biggest pop stars of the 2000s. They got their start acting together on The Mickey Mouse Club and became popular for their singing around the same time, making comparisons between them unavoidable.
Christina Aguilera has spoken about Britney Spears regaining her freedom, saying she’s happy for her and that nobody deserves to go through what she has. Spears, however, still felt snubbed when Aguilera declined to comment on the "Free Britney" movement at last year's Latin Grammy's.
Hopefully Britney Spears gets the message that body shaming is not OK, and we'll have to see how she and Christina Aguilera move forward after this.
