I could take the easy route in discussing Matt Lauer’s interview with Britney Spears on NBC last night — pointing out the pop tart’s janky use of ”finger quotes,” the fact that she doesn’t know enough to spit out her gum before the cameras roll, or even the way that (by my count) NBC used 47 different shots of Britney in her former, sexier state during the 60-minute telecast (perhaps to provide contrast to her current badly styled, pregnant incarnation?). But I’m going to turn my patented brand of bitchery on a less obvious target — Mr. Lauer himself, who missed numerous opportunities to ask the right questions about Britney’s plea for a life free from paparazzi and tabloid judgment. Let’s roll the tape (and if you missed it, don’t forget NBC is replaying it tonight at 8 pm EDT):
1. Did anyone else notice the lack of followup after Lauer questioned Spears about the beginning of her relationship with husband Kevin Federline? Specifically, Lauer wanted to know if Britney ever thinks about the fact that when she hooked up with K.Fed, his then girlfriend, Shar Jackson, was raising Federline’s young child and several months pregnant with his second — almost exactly the same position Spears is in right now. Britney, missing the point completely, said she doesn’t "’cause we’re very happy together right now." Why didn’t Lauer cut her off and get to the point, something like: "Britney, I’m not wondering if you’re worried Kevin is going to do the same thing to you. I’m wondering if you’ve ever put yourself in Shar’s shoes, ever considered that some of this negative press coverage may have been prompted by the fact that Kevin left his pregnant baby mama to hook up with you in the first place."
2. When Spears complained about the escalating presence of the paparazzi in her life, why didn’t Lauer ask the obvious: Is Spears willing to take any responsibility for the fact that Britney and Kevin: Chaotic, the UPN reality series offering intimate details of her courtship and marriage, might have whet the public’s appetite for news of her personal life, and raised the stakes in tabloid coverage about her and Kevin?
3. It might have been interesting to hear Britney discuss whether or not she finds the paparazzi less upsetting when she has a new album or movie to promote.
4. Finally, what I’d like to know is this: If Britney really and truly wants to take some time out of the spotlight, why not pack up her brood and spend 6-12 months in a remote, rural part of her home state of Louisiana? Surely, the level of paparazzi intrusion would eventually and inevitably die down if she weren’t continually zipping between New York and Los Angeles?
Anyhow, that’s what I’d have done if I were in Lauer’s loafers. Of course, I’d have been wearing socks, too.
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There needs to be celebrity, court-appointed adult to take charge here. Since there are children and a flagging career in peril. Someone who would know where the kid’s carseat goes, who can find another hit record, and more importantly, keep Brit away from posers like K-fed.
And like the good people that they are, they’ve come to Miami to party! http://www.moviemartin.blogspot.com
The interview had some “Living with
ichael Jackson” Bashir-esque icks-and-giggles. The girl clearly doesn’t “get it”. “Get it” meaning know anything st all”. This would be amusing, but there are children involved – four of them!
ugh the interview was wrong in so many ways. she is a human being i know that, but my two big problems were DEFINITELY the gum and matt lauer’s ankles. ’nuff said
Although I believe that celebrities deserve some privacy, I am tired of people like Britney crying about how much they want privacy while marching from place to place with a group of people in a manner that invites the press to take notice of them. She is upset because the attention has been negative. She was very happy to court the attention when it was positive. Lots of celebrities keep their private lives private–learn from them, Britney or please be quiet. Maybe if you are very quiet, we won’t have to hear about you.
Just like Whitney, as soon as she married Bobby her career and name went down in the mud, now Britney, from the moment she married K-Fed she’s been in bad press.
Someone who sells their private home videos and makes a TV show out of it then can’t cry about how they’re not being treated fairly by the press. If her privacy means so much to her, it shouldn’t have a price tag attached, no matter how much she believes the public is interested. Her level of cluelessness is actually very scary, like so many others out there in Hollyweird.
bravo maryann and ihate the i’m country excuse for puting that poor child in danger.this is the same person who was talking about her fav sex position on national tv PRIVACY MY FOOT
Oh, Michael, thank God, was waiting for your commentary all day! Okay, did Brit fire her publicist/stylist/hair make-up person/*mother* (who, hopefully, would have told her to spit out the gum)?! She look like Courtney Love…that one big hunk o’ fake eyelash hanging off her right eye…sassy, clueless, unwilling to accept *any* responsibility for where she is now…still in all, heartbreaking…just a kid…didn’t realize how badly she’d come off against a pro like Lauer. If she wanted to prove undying love with Kev, he should have been with her…they should have showed “the happy family,” even Shar’s kids. If she hasn’t already, she should fire the publicist who supported this interview.
You all make me sick. Yes, Britney wants the press when she is promoting her music, product, etc.., that’s why they are there. Fames was never supposed to be equal to having photographers following you around in your private life finding snap shots to make u look bad to the public. yes she has made some poor mistakes recently, but so has our president, dont see you all starting a boycott to have him impeached. she is a young woman with a family doing her best, like we all are, she doesnt need people treating here less than human, a comment she used that i agree with, and im not a fan of her music, just feel for her
All those clips NBC showed of a pre-pregnant Britney were done to prove a subtle point – this young woman has been selling herself in a certain light for a very long time. She created this feeding frenzy she cries about to make herself rich. Like she said herself – she likes money. While I also don’t believe anyone should be harmed by the press, she is paying the piper for all the millions she’s earned on marginal talent and a whole lot of exposure.
finally a commentary that echoes my thoughts. after reading all the “leave that poor lil girl alone, ya’ll” comments on msnbc’s board i was beginning to think this “country” girl was pulling the wool over everyone’s mascara clumped eyes. the overwhelming thought in my head the entire interview was: if you really want privacy, you’ll pick up & shut up! stop whining, stop putting yourself in situations where you know photogs are waiting (ahem, driving in a top down convertible w/your baby?) and LEAVE LA! don’t invite MSNBC into your own. didn’t she say to Matt Lauer, “where there’s a will there’s a way”? apparently that was referring to her efforts to sway public opinion even though she “doesnt care what people think” (& someone please teach this girl how to use quotes!)
I LIKED that Britney chewed gum through the whole interview. To me, she’s like, “Hey, I’m Britney. I chew gum during interviews, I walk around barefoot, and I’m a hillbilly. This is me, and I’m not gonna change, y’all!”
While I do think she invites press coverage, I think all the “Sean Preston in Danger” business is completely sensationalized. What parent can honestly say that if they had cameras on them 24/7, they wouldn’t be cited for doing SOMETHING wrong with their kids?
malik wrote: “You all make me sick… yes she has made some poor mistakes recently, but so has our president, dont see you all starting a boycott to have him impeached.”
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what country are you living in? Um, we cant impeach him but you think there hasn’t been public backlash and strong anti-Bush opinion? (hello, Bowling for Columbine.) My point is, she’s a public figure. It’s disgusting to compare the two and conclude that Britney Spears has it worse than our questionable President. Please. That pop tart is crying all the way to the bank
Michael, where was this artical at about 10 this morning when the work day just dragged!
Anyway, I watched the interview on the internet at work; I too was taken aback by Matt La-rooh’s choice of loafers and jeans – with no socks! What was he thinking?
As for Britney, as someone posted a while back in another blog, “Britney put a cork in it already, K-fed is ruining your career! Also, someone mentioned earlier how K-fed is similar to Bobby Brown in that he ruined Whitney’s career, I couldn’t agree to that more.
Certainly, celebrities deserve privacy, but I have to agree with some of the other posts. If you are selling personal videos then you are crossing thatline on your own, and to complain when you want the privacy back is silly.
As for the baby seat: I grew up doing that with my grandpa. But I was 3 or 4, not an infant. And we weren’t driving on the freeway…. Or going at any speed that could cause harm or cause an airbag to deploy. (though there were no airbags in the day…) She’s just trying to make excuses for being negligent.
I feel for Britney, in that I feel for all the mentally retarded children of the world. She’s clearly walking around in her own little bubble world and failing to see the blatently obvious. Anyone else think it was hilariously wrong when Laur’s voice narrated the “she’s referring to Danny Moder, who DID meet Juila Roberts while he was still married, but did not have any kids”? She (Britney) said “for some reason it’s different with me than it is with her” as if she thought babies really came from storks and there was no dufference between a man possibly leaving his wife for another woman, and a man possibly leaving his pregnant girlfriend and toddler for another woman.
Brilliant!! Britney has perfected the role of white trash made it big, married a wigger, and gotten knocked up. As she whines about her media filled life in LA/NY and parades her kid around in the hot sun sans hat, she shows that she is emotionally a 14 year old, has the parenting skills of a hamster, and is on the fast track towards the mental hospital. Hey Britney, say you want to lose control? Than get Kevin away from the kids before he eats them, move back to the rural south, and get your GED. Dumbass.
After complaining for 59 minutes about deserving her privacy, she makes the comment “I like money” (after Matt Lauer referred to her “business ventures”). There’s a price for everything. If she doesn’t like the “attention”, move back to the “country”!!!
I am just amazed, more than anything, at the fact that after all her time in the business of selling oneself that she has so little clue about presenting herself and thinking about what she says. To me that says a lot about her and her family (and I mean her mother). They are not going to hear what people tell them or advise them no matter what.
I am also willing to bet that some idiot told her once that the gum chewing makes her seem like a young southern girl.
I am willing to understand that the paparazzi crosses the line. But does she not get that without them we would not be talking about her AT ALL? She would not say that it was stupid to drive off with her son. All she had to say was that to regain some sort of sympathy. My mother drove with me in her lap too- without AIRBAGS and not on a busy road. The fact that there were paparazzi around only furthers the need to make sure your child is safely secured. I was disappointed that Matt did not point out Sean’s horrible position in the forward facing carseat pictures. That was the worst part about those.
Does Brit take responsibility for anything? It’s always the paparazzi this, the paparazzi that. I wish I could bite the very rich hand that feeds me the way that she does. Here’s some advice Brit, “be careful what you wish for”. And for an interview that was supposed to gain some sympathy and support, how about cleaning up a bit, less garish make-up, pull your ratty hair back, and cover your breasts, and stop chewing like a cow. If it was sympathy she was looking for she needed a whole different approach. Take responsibility for your own actions. Its that simple!
I AM SO TIRED OF THESE PEOPLE. THEY KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN THEY GOT IN TO THE “BUS”. I DON’T CARE WHAT THEY DO, SAY, WHAT THEY DO WITH THEIR KIDS.
WHO CARES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE WORLD IS IN A BAD PLACE NOW AND WHAT BRIT, OR ANY OF THE OTHER STUPID PEOPLE DOES IS NOT ON MY MIND
Why r all you weirdo’s so angry at this woman? I’m sure that none of you have ever meet her. Get a life losers. Why even watch a 60min interview about a so called has-been that you can’t stand? I’m not even a fan of this chick, I just get annoyed when freaks and geeks forget their place. You weren’t popular in high school and spewing negative commentary about someone worlds better than you isn’t going to change that.
I think she started emphasizing her drawl to invoke sympathy. She is all about marketing. She wanted the sympathy and now she has it.
She invited the NBC cameras in so really if she wanted to dress appropriately she would have. She just likes the attention and knew this would do it.
She really work those tears don’t she?
could not keep away from the interview – it was so very sad -the most appalling thing was that she was NOT prepared – the see-all clothes, the horrible gum-chewing, the manic-like makeup – this “girl” is far from being a woman – where are her celeb role models? her mother even? bottomline – Britney -grow up – your kids will need you
Wow, what a train wreck. I haven’t seen the interview, just the clips. She looks TERRIBLE. Who was the publicist who ok’d the tank top/mini skirt look??? She looks like an overfed Purdue chicken (those breasts! those thighs!) Seriously, where are her handlers and her mom? And the whole “I’m country” thing is so lame. She and K-Fed deserve each other. My favorite part of this whole episode: Madonna dumping Britney for Lindsay Lohan. Priceless!
Kevin? How did Federline get on this board? I thought the “better than you” part was high comedy. Get back to work on your album, yo.
I have a very little sympathy for this woman. She’s made it her goal in life to be famous, and has reaped the ample benefits of her success as an entertainer; members of the paparrazzi are just doing their job, which in turn gives her more publicity and $. The very act of inviting Matt Lauer into her home for an interview is a calculated move on her part, so whatever sympathy I’m supposed to feel for her and her “situation” is completely beyond me. And what’s with the Anna Nicole Smith-esque look? Is she TRYING to prove that you can’t buy class or dignity?
I’m not going to comment on Britney Spears. I don’t have anything to say that hasn’t already been said. I would like to argue with the contention that Bobby ruined Whitney’s career. Whitney’s career actually peaked after she met Bobby with the release of the Bodyguard and it’s soundtrack and stayed high for several years. Her career didn’t begin to tank until she lost control of her drug problem and she began experimenting with drugs long before she met Bobby.
This was her choice. Brit decided to put her career, if you can call it that, behind her raising a family. Brit made the wrong choice by marrying this guy. Sure he is attractive in the macho sense, but this man has no intelligence or respect. He left Shar barefoot and pregnant. Perhaps the relationship between them was over after she was pregnant, but we will never know. Brit’s singing days are over and if she has any respect for herself, once she can get her kids into daycare she should get a college diploma and start a new job. Plus if she is going to stay with K-Ferterlizer, then she should tell him to get his Coors chugging, tree smoking a*** a job, and to make sure that he has a seperate bank account. Stop sleeping and wake up because you are in the real world Brittney!