Did Britney’s Fiancé Shade Her Ex Justin Timberlake? His IG Story Is Telling
His post has already been deleted 👀.
When it comes to Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake’s breakup drama, there really is no end in sight. Although the couple split up back in 2002, they’re still a constant topic of conversation. Maybe it’s because their double denim red carpet look comes back every Halloween. Maybe it’s because of the recent upsurge in documentaries about the “Toxic” singer. Or maybe it’s because Sam Asghari, Spears’ fiancé, just shaded Timberlake on his Instagram Stories — the drama is too good.
On Nov. 21, Asghari shared a Variety article about himself on Instagram. The article featured an interview in which the personal trainer-turned-actor explained that Spears helped him find success in the spotlight. “I just want to thank [Spears] so much for putting me on the map as far as, you know, everything else that’s going on in my career,” Asghari said. “She helped me so much with that. Let’s be real. Let’s be real now, right?”
You might be (rightfully) wondering how this sweet moment could turn into shade towards JT. Here’s what happened: When Asghari shared the article on IG, he added his own caption as well, writing, “Bringing sexy back is cool and all but bringing (real) back in Hollywood is even sexier.”
I’ll be honest, Asghari’s punctuation doesn’t make a whole lot of sense here, so it’s a little bit tricky to parse his exact meaning. But one thing seems clear: his reference to “SexyBack,” Timberlake’s single from 2006. According to Asghari, “real” beats “sexy,” which actually makes “real” sexier than “sexy.” (Are you still with me?) Ergo, Asghari’s realness is better than Timberlake's sexiness. Nobody said being shady was straightforward!
Not to mention, Twitter users quickly pointed out this was actually Asghari’s second attempt at trolling Timberlake. Earlier on Nov. 21, he posted a nearly identical IG Story that he deleted before posting an edited version. In other words, oops, he did it again...
And it seems like Asghari had (another) change of heart after re-posting. The second Story went up around 8 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 21, but it was gone from his profile by the morning of Nov. 22, aka ahead of the 24 hour IG Story window. So it looks like he eventually thought better of trolling JT — or maybe Spears told him it wasn’t cool?
Although Spears and Timberlake didn’t have the most amicable breakup at the time, they seemed to have moved on from it. In February 2021, following the Framing Britney Spears documentary, Timberlake publicly apologized for how he acted in the wake of their breakup. Although Spears offered no public response to his apology, she did reference one of his songs on IG in August 2021 (and not in a shady way).
In the future, maybe Asghari should run his shady IG Stories by Spears first — especially if they’re directed toward one of her exes.
