Christina Aguilera hit the Instagram unfollow button on Britney Spears after the “Toxic” singer posted a controversial message that seemed to body shame the dancers Aguilera performs with on stage. Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Aguilera had unfollowed her former Mickey Mouse Club co-star.
“If I had Christina Aguilera’s dancers I would have looked extremely small,” Spears posted on Monday (September 12). “I mean why not talk about it??”
The post included a meme of a quote attributed to comedian Rodney Dangerfield, which reads, “I found there was only one way to look thin: hang out with fat people.”
The backlash was quickly served up to Spears from her followers, including messages on Instagram like, “Offensive in so many ways” and “There is so much more to life than looking thin.” Many responded by asking Spears to delete the message.
On Tuesday (September 13), Spears posted another message clarifying that she wasn’t “being critical of Christina’s beautiful body,” and said that when she saw her perform once, she “noticed…the difference of our people on stage.”
Then, Spears attempted to cover all her bases by adding that she wasn’t “trying to be critical of anybody” and said what she posted was “a projection of the insecurities I deal with all the time as a result of how my parents and the media have treated me.”
Spears went on to say that she “would never intentionally body shame anybody because I know what it feels like…I struggle with this because of how I feel about myself, not because I hate how anybody looks.”
Aside from unfollowing Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera has not responded to either of her posts.