Britney Spears responds to claims she was criticising Selena Gomez in Instagram caption

‘If anybody knows what judgement feels like I’m sure Selena has gone through something pretty similar,’ Spears wrote

Britney Spears has denied allegations that she was criticising Selena Gomez in an Instagram caption that has since been deleted.

In the original caption, Britney spoke of women judging other women for their freedom to express themselves.

‘Don’t you just love the nerve of women who stand firmly getting awards and speak on their beliefs about not showing their bodies on instagram ???!!!!!’ Britney wrote on the social media platform.

Many fanss believed that Spears was referencing the speech that Gomez made in 2016 when accepting the award for Favourite Female Artist in Pop/Rock at the American Music Awards.

Gomez said at the time: “I don’t wanna see your bodies on Instagram. I wanna see what’s in here [your heart].”

Spears’s post continued: “They say ‘This is NOT something I would do’, yet those women are the very ones who get 4 million dollar budget videos made about sucking and licking on homemade ice cream!!!!”

In 2020, Gomez appeared in the music video for her song “Ice Cream” with the K-Pop band BLACKPINK.

Following backlash from Gomez’s fans, Spears has now deleted the post and strongly denied that the comments were made in reference to the singer. Instead, she claims that it was actually related to “discrimation” she faced when she was younger.

In a lengthy six-slide Instagram statement, Spears said: “Let me clarify about me sharing my beliefs on women judging other women for their own rights in expressing themselves.

“What I say had nothing to do with anyone specific at all… it was clearly a subject in hand all women have had to deal with… look I go way back with my music!!!

“I honestly [was] referencing my days when I was younger when I got discriminated against harshly… men in interviews discussing my boobs on live TV or showing my midriff and skin!!!”

She continued: “If anybody knows what judgement feels like, I’m sure Selena has gone through something pretty similar.”

Spears went on to say that she had not seen Gomez’s music video for “Ice Cream” and that her words were actually in reference to Kelis’s music video for her 2003 hit song “Milkshake”, in which women were pushing the boundaries of expression by “finally shaking their a**es”.

“I empower women to express their bodies however they choose,” she wrote.

Spears also said that she “genuinely looked up to” and respected Gomez, calling the former Disney star a “beautiful queen”.

She said that she was “in awe of” Gomez who had “made her dreams come true” when she attended her wedding to Sam Asghari earlier in the year.

At the time of writing Gomez is yet to respond to any of the remarks made by Spears. The Independent has contacted a representative of Gomez for comment.