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After growing public backlash against him, singer and actor Justin Timberlake has taken to Instagram to apologize to both singer and actress Britney Spears and singer and actress Janet Jackson for the roles he played in getting the public to turn against the two.

From Uproxx:

Timberlake also acknowledged his privilege in benefitting from “a system that condones misogyny and racism.” He specifically names Spears and Jackson as the two people he wants to apologize to and explains that he felt “compelled to respond, in part, because everyone involved deserves better.” He says that he no longer wants to unfairly benefit from his privilege in the “flawed” entertainment business and states “I want to take accountability for my own missteps in all of this.”

The backlash against Timberlake started recently after the Spears documentary on Hulu premiered, which focused on her personal downward spiral in the 2000’s.  A key “turning point” in how the public viewed Spears was Timberlake’s smash hit “Cry Me a River.”  That song lead fans to think she was behind the demise of the their relationship, resulting in “pestering questions and negative public sentiment” towards Spears.

Since then, Spears has become a frequent target by numerous entertainment and tabloid publications.

All of that negative attention also brought back memories of Timberlake and his handling of that infamous 2004 Big Game Halftime Show performance with Jackson that was produced by MTV and aired on CBS.

Fans felt that his silence and “inaction” played a major role in the career downturn of Jackson in the rest of the 2000’s when he could have helped her.  In their minds, they thought that Timberlake could have been able to “shield Janet instead of distancing himself from the incident to preserve his career, a fact he touched on but never directly apologized for” when he got another chance to perform at Halftime in 2018.  Something that Jackson has not been able to so as of right now.

Now, Timberlake is finally making amends, and below is his statement.

Do you buy and accept Timberlake’s apology to Spears and Jackson?  Or is it too little, too late?

 

Click here to read more.

 

Article Courtesy of Uproxx

First Picture Courtesy of NBC and WENN

Second Picture Courtesy of Handout and Getty Images

Third and Picture Courtesy of Instagram and Uproxx

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