10 Celebs Who Threw Shade At Britney Spears (And 10 She Threw Shade At)

Quick Links

Britney Spears has had her ups and downs – all played out in the media for the world to see – but she is loved by her massive legion of fans, some being her fellow celebrities.

While she's not currently riding high on the crest of her success – having stepped down to make way for the younger girls dominating the music industry at the moment – the legacy that she made for herself during her reining years as the undisputed pop star princess will forever leave a lasting impression on tons of people all over the world.

Including plenty right in her very own backyard of Hollywood, such as Jordin Sparks, who said, "Britney Spears is an icon, and intimidates me." Taylor Swift once said, "My room was filled with posters of Britney Spears, she was and is one of the few NO country artists I listen to." Even Snoop Dogg once praised the pop star, stating, "I am very proud of Britney."

"Britney Spears is one of my favorite artists. I love Britney," Justin Bieber has said. "Madonna and Britney Spears are the same," Queen Elizabeth II has been quoted as saying, which is a questionable compliment unless we can confirm that Her Majesty is a Madonna fan. Nicole Richie said, "When you think of a pop superstar, what comes into your head? Two words. Britney Spears. I would like to be like her someday."

Even though the princess of pop has been praised to the moon and back by her fellow celebs, not all of them think this way. Unfortunately for them, Louisiana-raised country girl Brit isn't exactly one to sit there and take it.

Britney Threw Shade: Selena Gomez

That is, if Selena would be offended being compared to Ariana Grande. It could also be said that Spears offended Ariana Grande in this instance. When Grande's concert in Manchester, England was bombed, killing twenty-two people and injuring fifty-nine others, most people have the general details of this horrible tragedy memorized, being one of the heartbreaking catastrophes in 2017.

But Britney Spears proved that she had a lot on her mind when she gave a phone interview for an Israeli news station in preparation for her summer concert in Tel Aviv. Spears was asked, "Are you afraid of anything happening in Israel?"

"Well, I think, you know, in Israel, it's the same thing that's kind of going on in America," Spears answered. First, Spears referenced to Ariana then 'corrected' herself by saying, "I mean, Selena Gomez, look what happened to her in London."

Hey, when you're a huge pop star like Britney Spears, one Disney kid is the same as the next as well as cities in England.

Threw Shade At Britney: Justin Timberlake

Yes, this one is a bit obvious but clearly, we couldn't leave Justin – who wrote one of the baddest burn lyrics of all time – off of this list, right?

In case you forgot, those lyrics are, "When you call me on the phone, Girl I refuse, You must have me confused with some other guy, The bridges were burned, Now it's your turn, to cry." Pretty poetic stuff from Justin for 2002. If you'll remember, Timberlake, who was over the moon in love with Spears, wrote the lyrics in response to a secret love note he found from her choreographer, Wade in the Saturday Night Live dressing room where the two were set to perform together. Timberlake once jazzed up the lyrics for a live concert after saying, "you think you found one... but then you find out... she's just a b****." Another time, instead of singing, "Don't it make you sad about it?" Justin came up with, "b****, why don't you cry about it?"

He also made his disdain for his ex clear when he said, "The world has long been full of Madonna wannabes. I might have even dated a couple. But there is only one."

Britney Threw Shade Back: Justin Timberlake

Just like this denim disaster, the former duo wore for the 2001 American Music Awards that no one will ever forget, so was the end of Spears and Timberlake's relationship... a disaster that no one will ever forget.

Timberlake was blatantly bitter about the break-up but he was cheated on, after all, and publicly humiliated by Spears, no less when a private video surfaced of her talking to then-boyfriend and back-up dancer, Kevin Federline about Timberlake. Spears pokes fun at her ex and his revenge song to her, stating in less polite terms that he's not much of a man. Apparently, she even came out with a response song called "Mona Lisa" but it was only played once at an L.A. radio station and then never heard of again. These two former lovebirds were the "Justin and Selena" of their day, but sometimes even good things have to come to an end.

Britney Threw Shade: Jessica Simpson

Jessica Simpson has always been in the shadows of the big bubblegum pop princesses of the 90's - Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. While Simpson enjoyed a successful career of her own, she never quite matched Spears or Aguilera's levels of mass success, starting with getting rejected as a Mouseketeer. Sometimes, group dynamics can be hard to shake. This was made evident while Spears, who was pregnant with her first child, found herself backstage at Fox's Teen Choice Awards along with Simpson. The story goes that Simpson commented on the pregnancy and politely asked Spears if she could kiss her pregnant belly. Allegedly, the pregnant Spears impolitely replied with, "Hell, no!"A source close to Jessica reported that "Jessica was really insulted, but Britney refused to let her do it."

Threw Shade At Britney: Kanye West

It's no secret that Kanye West has trouble using his filter, especially when it comes to female pop stars. He experienced this problem in 2011 during an interview. At the time, Spears' single "Hold It Against Me" debuted, taking the number one spot.

"I'm the smartest celebrity you've ever f***ing dealt with," West said. "I'm not Britney Spears."

West is famous for being his number one fan in interviews, alluding to his

"genius" that only he can truly appreciate. Still, that comment has got to hurt. But maybe not. Seeing as how Spears never went out of her way to trade barbs with this infamous repeat offender in throwing shade at his fellow celebs, perhaps she thought that reacting to his rude comment that basically called her out as stupid was beneath her.

Britney Threw Shade: Jennifer Lopez

It's a battle of the Las Vegas residency singers! When news hit that Jennifer Lopez nabbed her own spot in The City That Never Sleeps, rumor on the strip was that Spears was none too pleased with her new neighbor due to competition. To fuel these rumors, it's been said that Lopez was furious when she found out that Spears is making more than her for the Vegas shows... much more... to the tune of five million dollars. To further add to the chaos, there's been some talk that a backup dancer of Lopez's betrayed her for Spears, telling all of the trash that the Latina superstar has said about her. Reportedly, Spears has said that she is out for revenge against Lopez and plans to step up her Vegas shows even more with the hopes of driving her far, far away from her turf.

Threw Shade At Britney: Katy Perry

"Being number one at being hot is a lot to live up to," Katy Perry said in a radio interview. "I'm going to shave my head next year. I can't handle the pressure... beating up your car with an umbrella." But Perry wasn't done there. She also referenced Brit's 2007 shaved head/car window smashing with an umbrella debacle at an awards show, stating, "The only thing I have left to do is like, shave my head which I'm really saving for a public breakdown. I'm down for that." Many people were outraged by Perry's insensitivity and slammed her for making fun of Spears' suffering from poor mental health at the time.

Britney Threw Shade Back: Katy Perry

The Britney Army was strong in force once they learned about Katy Perry tossing an unsubtle barb her fellow singer's way during the infamous radio interview. Many fans were horribly upset that Perry chose the incident of Spears shaving her head and getting caught by the paparazzi smashing a car with an extra large umbrella to use against Spears not just once but twice. Perry was attacked by The Britney Army and accused of poking fun at sensitive mental health issues.

As for Spears, she chose to tweet a bible verse, and though she didn't direct it at Perry, it was pretty obvious from the content and the timing just whom Spears was referencing. "Her mouth speaks from that which fills her heart." Spears added a black heart emoji and then quoted the bible verse as "Luke 6:45."

Britney Threw Shade: Ariana Grande

Everyone and their former babysitter knows that Ariana Grande has not just a talent for singing but for impersonating several other popular singers as well, even ones who have been in the biz for a lot longer than she has. She can even masterfully imitate famous people who are not singers like Jennifer Lawrence. Some of her most well-known and most requested impressions are of Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Rihanna, Shakira and of course, Britney Spears. But what does Spears think of Grande's impression of her? "I've heard better," Spears said in a radio interview after listening to Grande's impersonation of her. Though she did follow up with a compliment for the copycat singer's "real voice" stating, "I like it. It's smooth." So even though Grande's impression of Spears may knock the socks off of most people, Brit's socks remain firmly on.

Threw Shade At Britney: Mariah Carey

When asked during a red carpet interview what Mariah Carey thought of Spears expressing interest in joining The X-Factor, Carey responded with, "You think I focus on that stuff?" She paused to gesture between herself and the interviewer. "Have we met?" The diva quickly followed up the slightly snarky comment by stating that she loves Spears but just doesn't care about who's going on what show which sounds like a pretty reasonable thing to say... if only if ended there.

Carey hasn't exactly said anything directly negative about Spears, but she has made similar comments here and there that seem to discount the former Mouseketeer. But then again, if you're Mariah Carey's number one fan and Mariah Carey, one and the same, we understand how it would be kind of hard to see other singers as being at her level.

Threw Shade At Britney: Iggy Azalea

When music producers put hitmaker and established songstress Spears together with Iggy Azalea, a relative newcomer but with some major potential, it seemed like a match made in heaven. But the duo's song, "Pretty Girls" didn't do as well as everyone had hoped. Maybe it had to do with the music video where Azalea played some kind of space alien. Or maybe the stars just didn't align for "Pretty Girls" the way they do for other hit duets. Either way, one fan seemed to be very forgiving about the situation. Twitter user rhuancesarr tweeted, "@IGGYAZALEA even if PG flopped a little bit still getting a lot go views on YT and it's the summer anthem of 2015, so whatever we love you."

Azalea just couldn't leave things alone and tweeted back, "@rhuancesarr its difficult to send a song up the charts without additional promo and tv performances etc. unfortunately I'm just featured..."

The tweet was definitely a burn meant for Spears indicating that the song failed and Spears was mostly to blame.

Britney Threw Shade Back: Iggy Azalea

Making her soldiers in The Britney Army proud, Spears used Twitter to fire back (as she has in the past at other fellow celebs) at Azalea.

"Can't wait to get back to Vegas," Spears tweeted. "So thankful I have shows for the rest of the year to look forward to.... #YouWantAPieceOfMe"

The fact that her tweet came very soon after Azalea's tweet stating that she was "just featured" in the song "Pretty Girls" was no coincidence. Many fans took the tweet to emphasize one certain word. "So thankful I have shows..." with a little wink to Azalea who had no shows booked that year. The hashtag at the end was a clever touch - both to promote her Vegas show, "Britney - Piece Of Me" and to square up with the sassy Azalea.

Threw Shade At Britney: Avril Lavigne

On MTV's Total Request Live with Carson Daly in 2007, Avril Lavigne who was enjoying her title as the "Punk Pop Queen" must have felt the need to strongly defend her skate punk persona which included being against the bubblegum Princess of Pop, Spears. Daly quoted an exact comment that Lavigne gave to the press about Spears: "Would you walk around the street in a f***ing bra? She's not being herself up there because she's dancing like a ho. Is she a ho? She says she's a virgin. You know, it's just not clicking." The crowd laughed and Lavigne fumbled around for an excuse before blaming the press for "putting words in her mouth." The look on Daly's face said what we were thinking, that's a whole lot of words to put in someone's mouth.

Britney Threw Shade Back: Avril Lavigne

During Avril Lavigne's career as the "Punk Pop Queen", she did very well for herself becoming the third best-selling Canadian female artist of all time, behind Celine Dion and Shania Twain. But despite her great success, she doesn't come close to Spears who has sold over one hundred and fifty million records worldwide which makes her one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. Spears recognized this difference and chose a casual comeback designed to sting Lavigne where it really hurts. "Avril doesn't really dance," Spears said of Lavigne's music videos and live concerts. "But whatever. It's weird. My third album sold as much as her first one, which is very funny to me because everyone thought it didn't do that great." If Lavigne had a public comment on this, we were not able to find it. Remember, this was during the pre-Twitter era, after all.

Possibly Threw Shade At Britney: Whitney Houston

But Whitney's diss was more of a friendly but firm motherly warning than actually digging in at the pop star princess. On Australia's Today exclusive interview, Houston was asked her personal opinion about lip-syncing controversy at concerts and specifically, Spears's recent lip-syncing incident at an Australian concert.

Houston said, "Now you know I don't lip sync," before laughing and continued, "You know, but you have to take it easy on the kids, you know. Because they only know what they know from the past twenty years of what they're used to. But they should do their homework though. I must say, they should do their homework. 'Cause I had to do mine. my mother made me listen to the great voices."

So it seems that Houston possibly threw a little shade at Spears and singers her age at the time but it seems like she had good intentions behind it.

Threw Shade At Britney: Christina Aguilera

In an interview with Blender magazine, Christina Aguilera filled up a page by accusing Spears of famously kissing Madonna at the VMAs because she needed a gimmick. "These people aren't artists, they're just performers - fake and superficial," Aguilera was quoted as saying. This statement came before the famed three-way kiss between Madonna, Spears and Aguilera and many speculated that the statement was made out of jealousy due to the press attention Spears received.

Spears' longtime manager, Larry Rudolph probably summed up the famous scene best by saying, "Once that kiss happened, the world exploded." In an interview with Billboard, Rudolph said, "Madonna had been very, very, very rigid about the rehearsals. She was telling Britney and I every day, 'Be here tomorrow at 10 o'clock.' She would never address me by name, she would just say, 'You, make sure Britney's here tomorrow at 10 o'clock.' And I would say, 'Okay.' You don't want to upset her." While the press was going wild with the story, Madonna caught Rudolph in an elevator and shared another kiss - with him! - on the lips. "You see, Larry?" Madonna asked him. "It was all worth it."

Britney Threw Shade Back: Christina Aguilera

MTV Veejay and Total Request Live host Carson Daly brought up Aguilera's comment of kissing Madonna live on stage for a gimmick and a cheap way to get attention to Spears while she was visiting the show one day.

"But wait," Spears said. "I gotta say this. Didn't she kiss her, too?" The crowd applauded in response and Spears continued, "Right? She kissed her, too! But see everyone's like, they're wanting to form a gimmick but I'm just doing my job. The media, they're the ones who take it and interpret it that way. I'm just doing what I do." Spears was then pushed by the host as to what she specifically had to respond to Aguilera with, pointing out that Aguilera had thrown a personal potshot her way.

"I don't want to say anything about her," Spears said, laughing in a way that implied if she wanted to, she had plenty of embarrassing topics to choose from.

Threw Shade At Britney: Sarah Silverman

“Was that incredible?" Sarah Silverman, the host of the 2007 MTV Movie Awards said to the audience. "Britney Spears, everyone. Wow. She is amazing. She is twenty-five years old and she’s already accomplished everything she’s going to accomplish in her life. It’s mind-blowing. Have you seen Britney’s kids? Oh my god, they are the most adorable mistakes you will ever see! They are as cute as the hairless v****a they came out of.”

"The joke that everyone was upset about — me calling the kids 'adorable mistakes' — was the most innocuous joke," Silverman said years later about the joke that made so many Britney fans upset. "It never occurred to me that would be deemed hurtful or over the line. I don't want to get into feuds with girls half my age. I'm in it to be funny and not for the drama. It's embarrassing."

Britney Threw Shade: Taylor Swift

"Oops, I met you again" is what Spears should have said to Taylor Swift after the Vegas performer gave a radio interview with the popular Australian radio personalities Kyle and Jackie O from KIIS. The pair asked Spears who she would prefer to pass the time with on the incredibly long flight from Los Angeles to Australia if given the choice - Taylor Swift or Katy Perry? Spears chose Swift because she had already met Perry and "I've never met her (Swift) before." Sadly for Swift, both blonde pop stars had already met at least twice, one of those times being at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. Seeing as how Swift was a huge fan of Spears as a child, these forgotten meetings (which were likely ingrained in her memory!) had to hurt.

Threw Shade At Britney: Blake Shelton

Blake Shelton dissed Britney back in 2014 when he hosted the American Country Music Awards. "And if you don't like live music then you need to go down the block and see Britney Spears," Shelton said before high-fiving his co-host. It did appear as though Shelton was just making a "corny dad" type of joke but since Spears has received so much negativity for her lip syncing allegations and controversy, this very public joke had to be taken as shade by Spears. No comment on whether or not she had a very public comeback for him. To make matters worse, her younger sister, Jamie Lynn was in the audience. We wished that the camera would have panned to catch Jamie Lynn's horrified or embarrassed or possibly angry reaction.