For those who have followed the latest in an endlessly bizarre series of celebrity news items, perhaps the most unexpected of late has been Britney Spears getting backhanded by one of the security guards for current NBA darling Victor Wembanyama. The French nineteen-year-old might not have even been born when one of Spears’ biggest hits, “Toxic,” was released, but he certainly knew 1) the meaning of that song and 2) who he had trifled with the day after the “incident” in question made worldwide headlines.
Spears, who everyone knows is mild-mannered and sweet as pie when it comes to being a fangirl (see: Britney iconically trying to imitate Julia Roberts with a rose in her mouth on the December 2007 cover of Vanity Fair), perhaps made the rookie mistake (pun intended) of assuming that she still lives in a time when it was safe to perform even the simplest of gestures (i.e., shoulder tapping). Not to mention one of the most traditional in terms of “celebrity honoring.” And that is: wanting to ask for her picture to be taken with Wembanyama. Next to requesting an autograph, it’s about as wholesome as you can get when it comes to being a fan. Because fans are, increasingly (as many know post-Items Being Launched at Singers While Performing Live), pretty fucking weird and demanding. But Spears, a famous person that has experienced her own fair share of fans wanting a “piece of her,” didn’t seem up to date on the reality of post-social media, post-woke life/exchanges with another human in the evermore irascible public space. That in the contentious, constantly-about-to-reach-a-boiling-point climate of now, everyone—especially those in the public eye—are on their ultimate defense (no basketball position reference meant).
Living in a society like ours, American or otherwise (but particularly American, if we’re being real), every interaction has somehow transformed into a potential for danger, liability. Something Spears didn’t have to deal with quite so much in her proverbial heyday. This being part of why the security guard’s unwarranted assault felt so jarring to her, and why, roughly two days after the scuffle, she continued to openly comment on the matter by writing on her Instagram, “I’ve been working in the industry for years and have been with some of the most famous people in the world…NSYNC at one point were like The Beatles [a big stretch, but let’s pretend]. Girls would throw themselves at them everywhere we went…not one time in my life has a security guard ever hit another person!!! I’m not sharing this to be a victim … I SIMPLY GET IT HONESTLY … my reaction was priceless … BAD ??? YES … I’ve had documentaries done about me and none of which I approved … I have felt helpless in most situations and my experience in Vegas and my reaction was a cry out on all levels.”
A cry that, once again, has gone mostly unheard, with media outlets using terms like “alleged assault” when referring to what the director of security for the San Antonio Spurs, Damian Smith, did to Spears. Physically lashing out at her without assessing the situation whatsoever and causing her to hit herself in the face with her own hand (giving new meaning to the phrase, “Hit me, baby/One more time”). All the while, Wembanyama remained blissfully unaware of the chaos (per his account, with Brit contrarily stating, “Watching the player laugh was cruel and demoralizing”) he was indirectly causing, continuing on his merry way without ever turning around at all. Because it becomes so easy to be oblivious when The Fame arrives and, with it, a series of handlers to deal with the things you were once forced to as a “peasant.” It’s like Wembanyama forgot that he grew up in Nanterre at all.
Although Spears has been sure to highlight that she’s never witnessed such knee-jerk violence from a security guard before, perhaps she missed the main headline from 2018’s New York Fashion Week, during which a vaguely similar event occurred. Similar in that it also involved two famous people and a security team lash-out. Granted, two famous people on a level playing field (for, no matter what any basketball fan tries to tell you, Britney Spears is the superior icon here): Nicki Minaj and Cardi B. In this scenario, Cardi filled the Britney role (eerie, when considering she recently wrote a verse wherein she raps, “I feel like Britney Spears”) by actually trying to attack Minaj, whose security team then intervened and escorted her out of the venue.
Of course, that scenario made slightly more sense (as things sort of still did in a pre-COVID world) in that Minaj and Cardi’s animosity had been stewing for a while (in spite of playing nice with each other by collaborating on “MotorSport”). The one that somehow involved Spears and Wembanyama ever crossing paths at all in the same place, at the same time (short of Spears actually attending a Spurs game) would not appear as “plausible” were it not so on-brand for 2023. Where the word “absurd” has lost all of its original meaning and instead been redefined as: “perfectly normal.” As it has long been just that to not only publicly humiliate Spears, but also twist everything she does in such a way as to make her come across as the villain. The “bad guy,” as Billie Eilish would say (and yes, Spears has displayed an affinity for that song in the past).
Wembanyama had no issue perpetuating that pattern by describing the situation that unfolded outside of Catch restaurant in Las Vegas’ ARIA hotel as follows: “Something did happen, a little bit [already downplaying it with that word choice, clearly], when I was walking with some security from the team to some restaurant. We were in the hall. There was a lot of people, so people calling me, obviously. There was one person who was calling me, but we talked before with the security. I couldn’t stop. That person was calling me, ‘sir, sir,’ and that person grabbed me from behind.” And with that one very pointed word choice—“grabbed”— Wembanyama proceeded to add himself to the list of people who, for whatever reason, get their kicks from portraying Spears as unhinged. If she is, well, then everyone is responsible for making her that way. And, in truth, it’s a wonder she hasn’t been institutionalized in the same mental hospital *NSYNC was admitted to by now. That’s what probably would have happened to anyone else enduring her circumstances that didn’t have a song called “Stronger.”
This perhaps also being why she could suffer such fools as Wembanyama insisting, “I didn’t see what happened because I was walking straight and didn’t stop. That person grabbed me from behind, not on my shoulder, she grabbed me from behind. I just know the security pushed her away. I don’t know with how much force, but security pushed her away. I didn’t stop to look so I could walk in and enjoy the nice dinner.”
Spears, on the other hand, was not able to walk in and enjoy what should have been her nice dinner. And all after she was just trying to be, what else, nice. Congratulate a bitch on his success and express her admiration. But she should have learned her lesson by now: no good deed goes unpunished (starting with honing her singing and dancing talents ultimately as a means to financially support her family). And she was punished with not only more public humiliation, but the insult to (literal) injury that was not being believed. Having people assume that Wembanyama’s account of things was the accurate one, just because it’s not only “easier” but “more fun” to believe in the “crazy” behavior of Britney Spears. The persona she’s been saddled and “entertaining” people with for longer than she was a tabloid-evading pop star.
In typical Britney fashion, however, she took the unwarranted assault as a chance to address a larger issue in our society at this moment. One that she seemed not to notice amplifying while she was under lock and key. And that is: everyone is extremely fuckin’ uppity. So concerned they’re going to be hurt that they end up hurting others. So it was that Spears took the chance to declare, “Physical violence is happening too much in this world. Often behind closed doors. I stand with all the victims and my heart goes out to all of you!!! I have yet to get a public apology from the player, his security or their organization. I hope they will…” It seems likely that they won’t. And that, if they do, it will be solely to “save face” (and after so egregiously endangering Britney’s). Not that a man can ever really lose any. Bringing us to another egregious reality of this entire situation: if a woman’s security had done the same to a man, she would automatically be reamed to no end by critics and commentators alike, while the man could enjoy the luxury of being portrayed as the innocent lamb-like victim.
Spears unwittingly pointed out the double standard between what’s expected of men versus women, even when it comes to how they “direct” their security. Remarking sadly of what happened, “I get swarmed by people all the time. In fact, that night, I was swarmed by a group of at least twenty fans. My security team didn’t hit any of them.” And that’s not just because Spears is kinder, but also because she probably knows, with her luck, she would be put in jail—held up as the responsible party. Not so for Wembanyama, just a blameless bystander with no control over the situation. And sure, one can pull the “he’s only nineteen” card as an excuse, but where was any such argument for Spears when she was nineteen? Or sixteen (her age when “…Baby One More Time” came out)? Or twelve (her age when The Mickey Mouse Club was on the air)? There have never been concessions for Spears’ faux pas, no matter how directly or peripherally involved she’s been in a scandal (usually amplified from a minor peccadillo). And the lack of compassion for that factor was no better exemplified by watching Spears’ hand get abruptly batted away as she was trying to make a connection with someone. If that isn’t symbolism for so much of her life in the spotlight, then what is?
That Spears’ altercation didn’t result in any charges being pressed against Wembanyama’s security member just goes to show that even when a woman’s word is forced to be believed due to video evidence, a man will still get off with a slap on the wrist. Just as that also seems to be the case for Spears’ father at this juncture, after all the years and all the money he robbed from his own daughter. Still, in the end, the biggest slap of all. But that didn’t make the one from Wembanyama’s “bodyguard” hurt any less. Nor the failed attempt at being “just an ordinary fan.” Nor the realization that Vegas remains a source of great pain for Spears regardless of her efforts to create more positive memories there. But, as she noted after being smacked, “That’s America for you! Fuck you!”
