Timbaland apologises for saying Justin Timberlake should ‘put a muzzle’ on Britney Spears

JOE

By Jody Coffey

“I was wrong, you know, for saying that.”

Timbaland has apologised for remarks he made to Justin Timberlake about Britney Spears.

The music producer, 51, said Timberlake should “muzzle” his ex-girlfriend following the publication of her memoir ‘The Woman in Me’.

Spears’ book detailed her relationship with the *NSYNC boy band member from 1992 – 2002, including cheating allegations and revelations that she became pregnant with their baby, which resulted in her terminating the pregnancy due to Timberlake allegedly not being ready to be a father.

These comments came on October 29th at a talk event in the Kennedy Center in Washington DC with producer 9th Wonder.

When an audience member brought up Spears’ memoir, which discusses traumatising events in her life, including the conservatorship that controlled every aspect of her life, Timbaland replied:

“She’s going crazy, right? I wanted to call and say, ‘JT, man, you gotta put a muzzle on that girl.’”

Justin Timberlake and Timbaland — Getty Images

Timbaland apologises for “muzzle” comments aimed at Britney Spears

This statement led to outrage among fans of the Toxic singer, as well as Timbaland’s insinuation that she wrote her tell-all memoir to ‘go viral’.

“We live in an age of social media and… everybody wanna go viral. I get it cause that’s the way you make money, go viral – I gotta do something that gets people’s attention.”

After his comments were condemned by the public, Timbaland took the opportunity to issue an apology to Spears and her fans during a live steam on TikTok.

“You have a voice. You speak what you wanna speak. Who am I to tell you what not to speak? And I was wrong, you know, for saying that, but I hope you see it from – I was looking at it from a different lens, and what I am is a reconcile person. I’m not a person who takes sides.”

“I see your point. Do you see his point? You know, can we all get to agreement to say this is that and that’s this?” That’s just how I am, so I apologise to the Britney fans and her. You know about respecting women – hell yeah.”

‘The Woman in Me’ meanwhile sold 1.1m copies in the US in its first week, and topped the UK bestseller chart with 91,000 copies.

Speaking on the memoir’s success, Spears expressed her gratitude to her fans, saying: “I poured my heart and soul into my memoir, and I am grateful to my fans and readers around the world for their unwavering support.”