‘Leave Britney Alone’ star Chris Crocker doesn’t want your praise: ‘I apologise to Britney’
Chris Crocker shot to fame in a YouTube video that became a meme before memes existed. (Instagram/itsChrisCrocker, YouTube/MadRingKing1119)
“Leave Britney Alone” star Chris Crocker has defended Britney Spears’ honour, saying she “doesn’t owe me or anyone anything”.
Chris, who shot to fame with their viral video in 2007, spoke after Spears gave a blistering court testimony against her “abusive” conservatorship.
They shared a TikTok video in which they said: “I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me today to ask my thoughts on everything going on with Britney – I don’t feel it’s my place to speak on it.
“I feel like today is about Britney being able to be heard and what she wants to say and her getting her freedom and her happiness back.
“It’s not about what I or anyone else has to say. It’s about Britney’s voice being heard, and that’s what I’m so happy about: she gets to be heard, no one has to speak for her.”
After Britney Spears’ explosive court testimony, many social media users noted that Crocker was an early advocate for the star, suggesting they deserved an apology for the treatment they received.
Expanding on their thoughts in an Instagram post, Crocker admitted they haven’t always been “a perfect advocate” for Britney Spears.
They said that after the release of “Leave Britney Alone”, they bought into gossip that “Britney never liked my… video” and tore down all their posters of her.
But, they said: “Britney doesn’t owe me or anyone anything.
“So even if she thought I was weird or didn’t like the video, that’s her prerogative. Literally, I might’ve thought I was weird too, you know?
“But the reason I made that video is because that year… my mum was homeless and had came back from Iraq and was struggling, and my whole family, I was trying to get them to believe in my mum again.
“So the parallel between what she was going through and me trying to tell people, ‘No, Britney can still turn this around and don’t throw her away like this.’ That is why I made the video.”
View this post on Instagram
Chris Crocker says Britney Spears should be free to ‘live life the way she wants to’
Chris Crocker said that people are trying to “retroactively clap” them after Britney Spears was finally able to speak out against her conservatorship, which says has stripped her of her reproductive rights, among other abuses, and compared to sex trafficking.
Reiterating the sentiment in their original video, Crocker said: “We’ve all gotten to a point where we all see what the f*** is going on, and this woman has given us enough. She never had to give us anything.”
“To Britney, I apologise for the moments when I believed the anonymous sources… I made the ‘Leave Britney Alone’ video because I felt like people should leave you alone,” they added. “Now hopefully the conservatorship ends and she can live her life the way she f***ing wants to live it. And that’s all I have to say.”
Crocker recently sold an NFT version of their “Leave Britney Alone” video for over $40,000 in cryptocurrency, and plans to use the money to “begin my transition” and take care of their family.
In recent years, they have opened up about their experience being trans and the “transphobic” reactions they received from the original video.
