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Controversy
- The sexualized public image of Spears
once again became a topic of debate as a result of her 2003
semi-nude photo spread for the men's magazine, Esquire.
Prompted by this, Playboy reportedly offered the star over
one million USD to pose nude for their magazine, but Spears publicly
declined. In an interview with Diane Sawyer, she was asked if she
had ever gone further than she wished she had with the sexualized
photo shoots. Spears responded, "No, I don't think so,
no." After the Esquire photos were held up in front of
her, she said, "Okay. Now those are a little much. Yeah, those
are a little much. That's one picture, I must say, that I felt kind
of weird about, yeah."
- The 2004 Onyx Hotel Tour
brought new criticism. While Spears and her on-stage dancers
performed her songs "Touch of My Hand" and "Breathe
on Me," they were seemingly nude and were performing routines
simulating gay sex, orgies and masturbation. As there were underage
fans in the audience, there was some outrage at the alleged lack of
decency of the performances, as well as reports of adult chaperones
angrily storming out with children they brought to the concert.
Spears has responded to parents' concerns by stating she is
"not their babysitter. It's the parents' responsibility. If you
don't like it, turn the TV off. The only person I want to be a role
model to is my sister, Jamie Lynn." (From ABC's Primetime
interview with Diane Sawyer)
- Spears has also been criticized for
lip-synching. Most critics and musicians publicly express a negative
view on this way of performing, arguing that live entertainment
should literally be what it suggests, singing included. Some argue
that Spears, like other performers, can't practically sing while
being engaged in complicated and demanding dance moves. This has led
to the counter-argument that performers shouldn't focus on things
like dance moves, and instead focus more on singing.
- Spears' personal life has attracted
considerable media attention. Some people feel that she has courted
it by cultivating, in her early years at least, a chaste,
God-fearing and "wholesome" image. It was somewhat at
odds, not only with the traditional pressures, temptations and
opportunities of "pop 'n' roll," but with the increasingly
sexualized content of her own image and songs. Spears' kiss with
Madonna at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards received much media
attention, as have her romantic relationships. Spears is frequently
on magazine covers, discussing her marriage and motherhood.
- In December 2005, Spears sued US
Weekly for a story the magazine published in the column "HOTstuff"
of their October 2005 publication. The column, with the headline "Brit
& Kev: Secret Sex Tape? New parents have a new worry: racy
footage from 2004." claimed that Spears and her husband had
made a sex video and feared it would be distributed. Spears denies
the existence of any such tape while the magazine claims to have a
credible source, which they failed to mention in the article, and
stands by its story without any evidence or eyewitnesses.
- Photos published on February 7, 2006
showed Spears driving her SUV on the Pacific Coast Highway in Los
Angeles with her infant son, Sean, perched on her lap rather than
strapped into a car seat in the back. The photos show Spears holding
the wheel of the car with one hand, and her 4-month-old baby with
the other. In a statement to People, Spears said she did it
because of a "horrifying, frightful encounter with the
paparazzi" and that "I was terrified that this time the
physically aggressive paparazzi would put both me and my baby in
danger. I instinctively took measures to get my baby and me out of
harm’s way, but the paparazzi continued to stalk us. I love my
child and would do anything to protect him." She later told Access
Hollywood, "It's kind of like I made a mistake and so it is
what is, I guess." No charges were pressed. Later that month,
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, speaking at an event at
the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to mark the start of Child
Passenger Safety Week said, "Recent photos of Britney Spears
driving with her infant son on her lap are troubling...and while Ms.
Spears has acknowledged her mistake, her actions still send the
wrong message to millions of her fans."
- On April 1, 2006, Spears' 7-month-old
son fell and bruised his head after slipping from his nanny's arms
as she was lifting him from his high chair and "something
snapped in the chair." After an initial examination, he was
thought to be fine but six days later Spears and her husband took
him to the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center for a second checkup. He
got the all clear once again. Following this visit, child welfare
officials, as well as a sheriff's deputy, visited the Spears home.
"While there was an automatic report by the hospital to the
Department of Children and Family Services, DCFS immediately
responded and determined there was no problem and no reason to open
a formal investigation," Spears's attorney Marty Singer told People.
"They determined that the parents were not involved in any
injury and that nothing improper was done within the home."
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entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed
encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional
editors, This article is licensed under the GNU
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Wikipedia article "Britney
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