Britney Spears hits back after Justin Timberlake enrages fans with onstage comment

‘Someone told me someone was talking s*** about me on the streets’

Britney Spears appears to have responded to Justin Timberlake’s headline-grabbing remark that he wants to apologise to “absolutely f***ing nobody”.

Timberlake raised eyebrows when he made the declaration at a recent live performance, right before he sang “Cry Me a River”, the hit single widely believed to have been written as a thinly veiled diss track against Spears following their breakup in 2002.

The moment landed just days after fellow pop star Spears “apologised” to her ex-boyfriend, as she reflected on the details she revealed in her recent memoir, The Woman in Me.

Spears’s fans, who have long called out Timberlake for his alleged poor treatment of the “Womanizer” singer, were unimpressed by his antics, branding him “immature”.

Now, Spears herself seems to have hit back with a post on her Instagram page.

“Someone told me someone was talking s*** about me on the streets !!!” she wrote. “Do you want to bring it to the court or will you go home crying to your mom like you did last time ??? I’m not sorry !!!”

The caption was included along with the photograph “Perfect Timing” by Hang Hee Kim, which appears to show the moon in a basketball net.

Last week, Spears had shared her appreciation for her ex-boyfriend Timberlake’s music in a social media post as well as apologising for some of the revelations in her 2023 memoirThe Woman in Me.

Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears (Getty)

Spears wrote about several aspects of her three-year relationship with Timberlake in the memoir, including opening up about her decision to have an abortion because Timberlake “definitely wasn’t happy” that she was pregnant.

“I wanna apologise for some of the things I wrote about in my book,” Spears captioned an Instagram post. “If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about, I am deeply sorry.”

According to screenshots of Spears’s Instagram profile, which is currently set to private, Spears’s message continued: “I also wanted to say I am in love with Justin Timberlake’s new song ‘Selfish’. It is soo good and how come every time I see Justin and Jimmy together I laugh so hard???”

Her post included a video of Timberlake during a recent appearance on American comedian Jimmy Fallon’s talk show.

Timberlake recently announced plans for a North American tour and a new album, as well as releasing his first single in nearly six years, “Selfish”.

Justin Timberlake with Britney Spears shortly before their split in 2002 (Getty Images)

After the song’s release, fans of Spears began streaming her 2011 song with the same title in response.

Billboard reported that Spears’s “Selfish” topped Timberlake’s in sales during its first full week, thanks to the fan movement.

Fans of Spears also shared their disappointment with Timberlake’s public refusal to apologise.

“This kind of ‘I don’t care’ attitude is only cute when you’ve actually done nothing wrong,” reads one disgruntled comment, while another fan wrote: “Britney, I’m so sorry.”

Timberlake will release his sixth studio album, Everything I Thought It Was, on 15 March.