Timbaland apologzies for saying Justin Timberlake should've 'put a muzzle' on Britney Spears

Record producer Timbaland is apologizing for his recent comments about Britney Spears after receiving immense backlash for suggesting that Justin Timberlake should have silenced Spears with a "muzzle."

His comments, which were said during a recent panel at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., were in response to Britney Spears’ memoir, “The Woman in Me,” and his 2002 collaboration with Timberlake on “Cry Me A River,” which reappeared in headlines as part of Spears' revelations about her relationship with the N ‘Sync member.

Spears and Timberlake dated from 1999 to 2002 and the song seemed to be Timberlake’s reaction to cheating rumors. The video for the single, which was featured on Timberlake’s debut album “Justified,” also famously alluded to Timberlake’s breakup with Spears.

In her memoir, Spears addressed the music video, writing that it included “a woman who looks like me cheats on him and he wanders around sad in the rain.”

However, the “...Baby One More Time” singer revealed that they were both unfaithful. She continued, “I felt there was no way at the time to tell my side of the story. I couldn’t explain, because I knew no one would take my side once Justin had convinced the world of his version. I don’t think Justin realized the power he had in shaming me. I don’t think he understands to this day.”

In a YouTube clip from the panel, one person asks Timbaland about “Cry Me a River” and mentions that the song is a topic of conversation again thanks to Spears’ memoir.

Timbaland interrupts and says, “Yeah, she’s going crazy, right?”

As the audience laughs, he adds, “I wanted to call and say, ‘JT, man, you’ve got to put a muzzle on that girl, man.”

He then chuckles and says, “But you know what we live in an age of social media and viral. Everybody want to go viral. I get it because that’s the way you make money. Go viral. ‘I’ve got to do something to get people’s attention.’”

After his comments when viral, the 51-year-old producer went live on TikTok to address the comment. The clip of his apology was later reposted to X, formerly known as Twitter..

“I apologize to the Britney fans and her,” he said, reading a comment asking about his attitude towards women. “Yes, ‘you know about respecting women?’ Hell yeah.”

Timbaland's comments and apology come after Spears' memoir included multiple revelations about her relationship with Timberlake. She said she became pregnant when they were dating and later had an abortion.

Spears also shared that Timberlake broke up with her via text, leaving her so “devastated” that she contemplated leaving the music industry behind.

While she was portrayed in the media as the “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy,” she wrote, the pop icon was actually “comatose in Louisiana, and he was happily running around Hollywood.”

Following the book’s release, TODAY.com reached out to Timberlake for a comment. He has not responded to Spears’ claims. TODAY.com also reached out to Timbaland, who declined to comment, as well as Spears.

Timbaland’s comments about Spears’ book caused him to trend on X on Nov. 7, with many of the “Oops!…I Did It Again” singer’s fans calling him out.

One person tweeted, “I am irritated whenever I see a clip of Timbaland giving an interview. Saying a woman who was in a 13-year conservatorship should have a muzzle put on her because she can finally tell her story through a memoir is gross.”

A Spears’ fan account said, Timbaland was advocating to take “away women’s basic human rights to speak.”

Beneath Pop Base’s post about the panel, another fan wrote, “I’m glad britney is speaking up, their reactions are just proving that everything she said is true.”

Others called out the audience at the event. “I threw up just watching this,” one X user said. “Everyone (in) the audience who laughed is just as nasty.”

On YouTube, some of Timbaland’s fans expressed their disappointment.

“This man aint like the person i thought he was,” one said.

Another commented, “SHAME ON YOU TIMBALAND.”

Multiple social media users pointed out that Timbaland has spoken about Spears and Timberlake’s past before. In 2007, he said he wanted to team up with Spears in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

“I feel her pain, it really bothers me,” he told the publication at the time. “I’m the type of person who tries to save the world. I just want to take her away, go overseas, and work (it) out.”

He also claimed he asked Timberlake about making music with Spears. According to him, Timberlake was interested in the partnership if Spears was “serious.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com