“Place in hell secured”: Netizens slam Justin Timberlake over apparent Britney Spears shade during NYC show

While performing at New York City's Irving Plaza on Wednesday night, January 1, Justin Timberlake shouted out to the crowd that he'd like to take the opportunity to apologize to "absolutely f**king nobody" before going on to perform Cry Me a River. Considering the song was written about his ex, Britney Spears, netizens saw the singer's statement shading the Toxic hitmaker.

Spears claimed in her memoir that she had an abortion when she was dating Justin, as he did not want to be a father at the time. Spears had only recently apologized to anyone who was offended by her memoir. Netizens were furious over Timberlake's latest statement, with many calling him a "loser." One X user commented:

Netizens were furious with Timberlake (Image via X/@PopCrave)

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Justin Timberlake's alleged Britney Spears shade lands immense internet backlash

Justin Timberlake performed a live set at the Irving Plaza in New York on Wednesday night that took the internet by storm for all the wrong reasons. Right before he began singing Cry Me a River, which was about his split from Britney Spears, he said to the crowd:

"I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to absolutely f**king nobody,"

When Birtney Spears' memoir, The Woman in Me, was published in October 2023, Justin Timberlake faced a lot of backlash for some of the singer's revelations about her relationship with him. Spears claimed that Timberlake, whom she had always expected to have a family with, had gotten her pregnant when she was 19 but got an abortion. She wrote:

"Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young."

Spears revealed that the abortion was one of the most "antagonizing" things that she had ever experienced. Netizens who sided with Spears showered Justin Timberlake with a lot of shade and straight-up hate.

Social media users also pointed out Timberlake's infamous Super Bowl incident with Janet Jackson and called him a "loser." Here are a few reactions to @PopCrave's X post on Timberlake's statement:

Fans slammed Timberlake's statement (Image via X/@PopCrave)

Fans slammed Timberlake's statement (Image via X/@PopCrave)

Fans slammed Timberlake's statement (Image via X/@PopCrave)

After the announcement of Justin's new album, Everything I Thought It Was, and the release of his new single, Selfish, on January 25, Britney fans made Spears' Selfish trend on X and pushed ahead of Justin's song on the iTunes charts.

Justin, on the other hand, went on to make an appearance on the Tonight Show, and Spears took a screenshot of the segment and posted it on social media, captioning her since-deleted post:

"I wanna apologize for some of the things I wrote about in my book. If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about I am deeply sorry."

She added:

"I also wanted to say I am in love with Justin Timberlake’s new song ‘Selfish’ ... It is so good and how come every time I see Justin and Jimmy together I laugh so hard?"

Spears' deleted apology post also was a huge factor in the massive backlash against Justin Timberlake's statements. It did not end there as after Timberlake's statement went viral, Britney captioned a brand new Instagram post:

"Someone told me someone was talking s**t about me on the streets !!! Do you want to bring it to the court or will you go home crying to your mom like you did last time ??? I’m not sorry !!!"

Britney Spears seemingly responded to Justin's shade (Image via Instagram/@britneyspears)

Timberlake had previously apologized to both Britney Spears and Janet Jackson in 2021 when he issued a statement apologizing to both women for speaking out of turn and not speaking up.

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