Britney Spears Causes Controversy After Sharing Her Thoughts On The Black Lives Matter Movement
April 20 2021, Updated 10:47 a.m. ET
Britney Spears is not usually one to cause controversy (though she is surrounded by it), but a recent proclamation in support of the Black Lives Matter movement has caused some contention among the pop star's diehard fans.
On Monday – the first day of jury deliberations in Derek Chauvin's murder trial – Spears posted an image that declared her support of the Black community. Many fans felt the gesture displayed undertones of hope for justice for George Floyd and his family, given that the BLM movement's mission is to "eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes."
The black-and-white photo Spears shared was that of a Black man sitting on what looked like an empty bus, holding a sign that read, "White people have generational wealth. Black people have generational trauma. #WeAreNotTheSame. #BLM."
"Just sayin' 🗣🗣🗣!!!!" Spears captioned the picture, adding the hashtags #BlackLivesMatter and #BLM.
Jordon Blake attends a Black Lives Matter protest in London, England, on June 7, 2020.
For the most part, the post sparked praise among many of Spears' followers, with several hailing "woke Britney" for speaking up.
"Queen of joining the movement!!!!" one follower commented, while another added, "I didn't think I could love you more!!! Thank you for this. Britney for President!!"
But as is everything involving social media and celebrities, there were dissenters. Britney's comments section was quickly flooded with criticism by fans who found her message toxic. And, as is everything involving social media and celebrities, several threatened to unfollow her.
"I mean – this is literally not true," one person replied to the post. "This is called profiling which is also racist."
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Another added, "So now we are labeling people based on skin color which is literally what we are supposedly trying not to do?"
"Please don't go down this rabbit hole," urged a third, while a swarm of white people bombarded the star with messages wondering where all their supposed "generational wealth" was.
"White person here and I also have generational trauma. Ignorant thing to post," one of them commented, while another added that "not all white people have generational wealth and personally I have generational trauma. Hurts to see this."
Spears' Instagram account as a whole has been under heavy scrutiny in recent times, particularly since the bombshell documentary, The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears, shone a light on the not-so-glamourous realities of being the 39-year-old international superstar, who's been under her father's close watch for over 13 years.
Eagle-eye fans and #FreeBritney supporters believe Jamie Spears has been abusing his longstanding role as Britney's conservator and that his daughter is being over-monitored, over-medicated, financially exploited and spoken for on social media.
"If ppl didn't believe you were being controlled, they sure do now," one of Britney's Instagram critics commented on her BLM post, while another dismissed the singer as just "another uneducated liberal."
"I knew I covered your tattoo up for a reason," wrote a third in perhaps the most emotional response of the bunch. They also added three sheep emojis, signifying their belief that Spears can't think for herself and simply follows the pack.
And once again, as is everything involving social media and celebrities, one gutsy commenter suggested Spears do more than just talk the talk: "Donate all your money."
Seems reasonable.