Producer Timbaland made a series of derogatory comments about Britney Spears in the wake of her bestselling memoir, The Woman in Me.
Of course, Timbaland has worked with Britney's ex, Justin Timberlake, for many years. He even produced Justin's 2002 song "Cry Me a River," which is widely believed to have been Justin's attempt to publicly accuse Britney of cheating on him.
What's more, Timbaland worked with Justin on his upcoming, yet-to-be-announced album. He said in April, "I just left working with him, we just finished up, and everything sounds great. Now it’s really on him how he plans to wrap it up and how and when he envisions it to come out." The two also worked together on Timbaland's song with Nelly Furtado, "Keep Going Up," which was released in September.
The Woman in Me explored Britney's relationship with Justin to a new level, from revealing that she had an abortion while she was with him as he "didn't want to be a father," to accusing him of cheating on her numerous times, to saying that he ended things with her over text. "I think [the breakup] was because he’d decided to use me as ammunition for his record," she wrote of his debut album Justified, much of which was produced by Timbaland.
On Oct. 30, Timbaland spoke at an event at the Kennedy Center called Sound Architects: A Producer Conversation with Timbaland. He praised Justin's work and called "Cry Me a River" the "turning point" in their working relationship, stating that it was what compelled him to return to Justin again and again as a collaborator.
Someone then began to ask Timbaland about the recent reexamination of "Cry Me a River," given Britney's memoir. He interrupted the question and said, "She going crazy."
As the audience laughed, he continued, "I wanted to call and say, ‘JT, you gotta put a muzzle on that girl.'" People continued to laugh, though some sounded shocked.
"But you know what, we live in an age of social media and viral, everybody wanna go viral. I get it, because that's the way you make money. Go viral. I've gotta do something to get people's attention," he continued.
