Danielle Joyner February 12th, 2021 - 11:36 AM
Justin Timberlake issued a public apology to both Britney Spears and Janet Jackson following the New York Times documentary, Framing Britney Spears. The film documented Spears’ professional life and her personal life, which featured her relationship with Timberlake.
Timberlake and Spears dated for some time and broke up in the early 2000s. After their breakup, Spears received an intense amount of scrutiny and backlash after Timberlake took their separation to the public. According to Pitchfork, the film shared a clip of radio audio of Timberlake discussing the former couple’s sex life.
“I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or I did not speak up for what was right. I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism,” Timberlake says in the beginning of the statement. “I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually, because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed.”
The apology was also issued to Janet Jackson as Timberlake remembers their 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. The two were performing when Timberlake exposed Jackson’s nipple on live television. The incident caused Jackson’s music videos to be blacklisted on MTV and her Grammy’s invitation was revoked.
After the incident, Timberlake was not only given the opportunity to attend the Grammy’s but to perform also. During an interview in 2018 while discussing the incident, Timberlake states “I had my wires crossed and it’s something that you have to look back on and go, like, ‘Ok well, you know you can’t change what’s happened but you can move forward and learn from it,’.”
Later in his apology statement, Timberlake states “I care deeply about the wellbeing of the people I love and have loved. I can do better and I will do better.” Take a further look at Timberlakes’s apology post below.
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