Bobby Brown is speaking out and reflecting on his life and massive career in a new interview. But it’s the disparaging comments he made about Britney Spears that have him and the former pop star trending all over social media.
During Brown’s latest appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast on Wednesday, the topic of artists sampling his songs came up and Brown was asked which ones did a great job and which ones didn’t. And while he initially didn’t name names, he couldn’t help but call out Spears and made it clear that he didn’t like her version of his 1988 hit, “My Prerogative.”
“I don’t think they did justice. I don’t think they really did justice to any of the samples that they have done to my songs. Britney Spears butchered ‘My Prerogative.’ Teddy Riley produced it. But that was a butchering. I couldn’t take it,” Brown said.
When Sharpe pushed back on Brown’s comments and noted that he was the one who cleared the song for her to do it, Brown responded by saying that he only did so because it was Spears and he thought she’d do the song well in her rendition. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.
Naturally, once clips of Brown’s words hit the social media streets, fans of both artists were quick to defend their respective faves.
“F*ck Bobby Brown. Britney Spears made ‘My Prerogative’ her own song and did the damn thing! Britney’s version is iconic,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
“Don’t disrespect Bobby brown a black man who paved the way for other BLACK artists just because he disagrees with a cover of HIS SONG THAT HES BEEN VOCAL ABOUT FOR YEARS. Do not downplay the success of Bobby brown to uplift Britney Spears that is what we are not going to do,” said another.
“There’s no version of “my prerogative” that’s better than bobby brown’s, and i say this as a britney spears fan,” wrote one other user.
Added another, “It’s honestly so pathetic that an artist like Bobby Brown, who has been in the industry for years and is an idol to many new artists, would disparage Britney Spears just to get attention and imply that her version is trash even though many people love Britney’s version.”