ICYMI: Britney Spears & Justin Timberlake Are Feuding Again

There’s another surprising 2024 feud playing out. In the last week, exes Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake have made public and online statements that appear directed at each other. The back-and-forth started on Jan. 28 with an apologetic Instagram post from Spears.

“If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about I am deeply sorry,” she wrote in an Instagram caption, likely alluding to her 2023 memoir, The Woman In Me. “I also wanted to say I am in love with Justin Timberlake’s new song ‘Selfish.’ It is soo good... Ps ‘Sanctified’ is wow too.” Spears’ post has since been deleted.

Three days later, Timberlake appeared to respond during a show, making a declaration about apologizing while performing at New York City’s Irving Plaza. “I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to absolutely f*cking nobody,” he said.

According to People, he made the remark before going into “Cry Me A River,” a song he wrote about his and Spears’ breakup.

A day later, on Feb. 1, Spears added a new Instagram post.

“Someone told me someone was talking sh*t about me on the streets !!!” she wrote, which many fans are interpreting as a response to Timberlake. “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 !!!” (For context, Spears previously teased that Timberlake “would cry” when she beat him at basketball.)

What’s The Backstory? The Exes Have A Long History

Timberlake and Spears started dating in 1999. They split in 2002, after which he made comments that fans have since deemed crude and insensitive.

In 2021, following a slew of documentaries about Spears’ former conservatorship, Timberlake apologized to her for his previous remarks.

Things appeared settled between the exes until, in her 2023 memoir, Spears opened up about their relationship, including that she had an abortion while dating Timberlake. She wrote about how she felt when he released 2002’s “Cry Me A River.” In its music video, he cast a Spears look-alike who cheats on him, perpetuating a press narrative that she was unfaithful in the relationship.

In her memoir, Spears claims he’s “neglected to mention” the “several times” he allegedly cheated.

“In the news media, I was described as a harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy,” Spears writes in the book. “The truth: I was comatose in Louisiana, and he was happily running around Hollywood... I see how men are encouraged to talk trash about women in order to become famous and powerful. But I was shattered.”

Following the memoir’s release, he didn’t respond directly to the book’s accusations, but fans think he shaded Spears while performing in December 2023. At a Las Vegas show, before singing “Cry Me A River,” he appeared to allude to her memoir.

“No disrespect,” he told the crowd, before singing, “But aren’t we all just entertainers?” — a nod to Nirvana’s 1991 hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”