Britney Spears’ fans want Timbaland to apologize after the record producer said collaborator Justin Timberlake should have “put a muzzle on that girl,” as the pop star’s memoir makes some explosive claims about the *NSYNC crooner.
Though the 51-year-old Grammy winner, real name Tim Mosley, made the controversial remark while speaking with 9th Wonder at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts last week, the comment is just now going viral, TMZ reports.
Timbaland — who worked with Timberlake, 42, on his “Future Sex/Love Sounds” album and, more recently, the track, “Keep Going Up!” — reportedly also accused the “Gimme More” pop star, 41, of exploiting certain elements of her life to help “The Woman in Me” fly off the shelves and make the rounds on social media, according to the outlet.
Spears’ book details the tumultuous elements of her relationship with Timberlake, which lasted from 1999 to 2002.
She said that, in addition to cheating on her multiple times, Timberlake impregnated Spears. He allegedly said the two weren’t ready to be parents and, as a result, Spears said she underwent an abortion that ultimately haunted her.
She also spoke in the book about how Timberlake weaponized the public’s perception of her. While she admitted to having once stepped out on the “SexyBack” singer with choreographer Wade Robson, Spears said Timberlake let the world at large believe she was a “harlot,” particularly after the “Cry Me a River” music video.
Fans of Spears now want Timbaland to apologize for the “muzzle” comment, especially since they believe his beef with her may go back farther than the memoir.
Spears’ album, “Blackout,” dropped in 2007 and involved her working with producer and songwriter Danja, whom Timbaland previously mentored. Earlier that year, Timbaland reportedly claimed he’d suggested Spears and Timberlake collaborate, but ultimately, she had gotten “so big-headed and [was] like, ‘Screw you, screw you, I don’t need nobody.'”
“She should humbly, humble herself,” he told MTV News at the time. “And make a phone call and say I’m sorry. … She knows what she’s sorry about, too.”
