Timbaland apologizes for Britney Spears 'muzzle' comment: 'You have a voice'

Timbaland is apologizing for his comments about putting a "muzzle" on Britney Spears.

The 51-year-old music producer received backlash for a comment in which he said the pop star's ex-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, should "put a muzzle" on Spears following revelations in her new memoir, "The Woman in Me."

During a conversation at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts on Oct. 29, a clip circulating online features a member of the audience asking Timbaland about his "Cry Me a River" collaboration with Timberlake, which has been in the news amid revelations in Spears' memoir.

"She going crazy. I wanted to call and say, 'JT, you gotta put a muzzle on that girl,'" he said. "But you know what? We live in an age of social media and everybody wanna go viral. I get it, because that's the way you make money. Go viral.

"I gotta do something to get people's attention," he said.

After his comments spread, Timbaland took to TikTok this week to apologize.

"I'm sorry to all the Britney fans, even to her," he said in a live video. "I'm sorry, because muzzle was – no, you have a voice. You speak what you want to speak. Who am I to tell you what not to speak? And I was wrong for saying that."

Britney Spears reveals in new memoir she had abortion while dating Justin Timberlake

"The Woman in Me" debuted on Oct. 24, and includes the shocking revelation in which Spears, 41, claims she became pregnant during her relationship with Timberlake and had an abortion.

"Justin definitely wasn't happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren't ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young," she wrote.

Spears and Timberlake dated from 1999 until 2002 in their early adult years.

Clips of Michelle Williams' narration of "The Woman in Me" have also taken the spotlight, as listeners are obsessing over the vocal delivery, especially her impression of Timberlake.

At one point, Spears writes about how Timberlake's former boy band, NSYNC, tried to distinguish themselves from the Backstreet Boys by surrounding themselves with Black artists, so they could be perceived as a group of "white boys (who) loved hip hop."

"Sometimes, I think they tried too hard to fit in. One day, J and I were in New York going to parts of town I'd never been to before. Walking our way was a guy with a huge blinged-out medallion. He was flanked by two giant security guards," Spears writes and Williams reads. "J got all excited and said so loud, 'Oh yeah, fo' shiz, fo' shiz. Ginuwine! What's up, homie?'"

Contributing: Naledi Ushe, Anthony Robledo

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Timbaland apologizes for Britney Spears 'muzzle' comment