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Music producer and rapper Timbaland has apologised for suggesting Justin Timberlake should “put a muzzle” on Britney Spears.

Timbaland, 51, was being interviewed at an event in front of a live audience at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC on 29 October when he made the comments.

An audience member asked about the renewed interest in Timberlake’s 2002 song Cry Me A River – co-written and produced by Timbaland – which is believed to have been inspired by the former NSYNC star’s break-up with Spears.

In her new autobiography, Spears wrote that she had an abortion during her relationship with Timberlake, that she and Timberlake had cheated on each other, and that the music video for Cry Me A River – which features a Britney look-a-like going off with another man – made her out to be a “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy”.

Timbaland and Justin Timberlake pose backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards at the Palms Hotel and Casino on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)
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Timbaland and Justin Timberlake at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2007 Pic: AP

In a video of the incident that circulated on social media, Timbaland replied to the question: “She going crazy, right?

“I wanted to call and say, ‘JT, man, you gotta put a muzzle on that girl’.”

The audience appeared to laugh at Timbaland but the clip sparked outrage online.

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He eventually apologised in a TikTok live video on Tuesday night.

“I apologise to the Britney fans and her,” he said, reading a comment asking about his attitude towards women. “Yes, ‘you know about respecting women?’ Hell yeah.”

FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2002, file photo, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears wave to the crowd prior to the start of the 2002 NBA All-Star game in Philadelphia. Timberlake told E! News on Sept. 13, 2016, that he's open to collaborating with Spears. Spears mentioned Timberlake last month in answering a question about who she would like to work with one day. (AP Photo/Chris Gardner, File)
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Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears in 2002 Pic: AP

Undated handout photo issued by Simon & Schuster of the front cover of Britney Spear's memoirs The Woman In Me. The book will be published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in October this year. The US pop star said she had had "a lot of therapy" to help get the book done and hoped fans would like it. Issue date: Wednesday July 12, 2023.
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The front cover of Britney Spear’s memoirs The Woman In Me

Spears revealed in her autobiography Woman In Me that she had an abortion during her three-year relationship with Timberlake.

“If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it,” she wrote. “And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.”

Spears, 41, was subject to a controversial 13-year legal conservatorship until 2021.

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Timbaland is one of the most high-profile producers in R&B and hip hop, and has worked with Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott, Aaliyah, Jay-Z and Lil Kim.

He also scored chart hits as an artist with songs including The Way I Are, Give It To Me, Apologise and Morning After Dark.

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Bob Vylan on ‘death, death to the IDF’ chant: ‘I’d do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays’

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Bob Vylan on 'death, death to the IDF' chant: 'I'd do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays'

Bob Vylan’s frontman has said he does not regret chanting “death, death to the IDF” at Glastonbury – and would do it again.

The outspoken punk duo sparked controversy with their performance at the festival in June, with the broadcast also leading to fierce criticism of the BBC.

But speaking on The Louis Theroux podcast, Bobby Vylan said he stood by the chant, adding: “I’d do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays.”

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BBC bosses grilled over Masterchef, Bob Vylan and Gaza documentary

The US condemned the act’s “hateful tirade” and revoked their visas, with several festivals cancelling their upcoming appearances.

Vylan claimed this backlash is “minimal” compared with what the people of Palestine are going through – with many losing members of their family or forced to flee their homes.

He said: “If I have their support, they’re the people that I’m doing it for, they’re the people that I’m being vocal for, then what is there to regret. Oh, because I’ve upset some right-wing politician or some right-wing media?”

The musician revealed he was taken aback by the uproar caused by the chant, which was described by the prime minister as “appalling hate speech”.

Vylan added: “It wasn’t like we came off stage, and everybody was like (gasps). It’s just normal. We come off stage. It’s normal. Nobody thought anything. Nobody. Even staff at the BBC were like: ‘That was fantastic! We loved that!'”

A spokesperson at Mindhouse Productions – which was founded by Theroux and produces The Louis Theroux podcast – told Sky News: “Louis is a journalist with a long history of speaking to controversial figures who may divide opinion. We would suggest people watch or listen to the interview in its entirety to get the full context of the conversation.”

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Calls for Bob Vylan concert to be cancelled

‘The response was disproportionate’

The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit has since found that the broadcast of Bob Vylan’s set breached editorial standards related to harm and offence.

Theroux asked Vylan what he meant by chanting “death to the IDF” – with the musician replying: “It’s so unimportant, and the response to it was so disproportionate.

“What is important is the conditions that exist to allow that chant to even take place on that stage. And I mean, the conditions that exist in Palestine. Where the Palestinian people are being killed at an alarming rate.”

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Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

He said he wanted an end to the oppression that the Palestinian people are facing – but argued chanting “end, end the IDF” wouldn’t have caught on because it doesn’t rhyme.

“We are there to entertain, we are there to play music,” Vylan added. “I am a lyricist. ‘Death, death to IDF’ rhymes. Perfect chant.”

He went on to reject claims that their set had contributed to a spike in antisemitic incidents that were reported a couple of days later.

“I don’t think I have created an unsafe atmosphere for the Jewish community. If there were large numbers of people going out and going like ‘Bob Vylan made me do this’. I might go, ‘oof, I’ve had a negative impact here’.”

Vylan’s conversation with Theroux was recorded on 1 October – before the Manchester synagogue attack, and prior to the ceasefire in Gaza coming into effect.

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Gavin Plumb: Man jailed for plotting to rape and murder Holly Willoughby loses appeal against life sentence

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Gavin Plumb: Man jailed for plotting to rape and murder Holly Willoughby loses appeal against life sentence

A security guard jailed for plotting to kidnap, rape and murder TV star Holly Willoughby has lost an appeal against his life sentence.

Gavin Plumb was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 16 years last year after being convicted of soliciting murder and encouraging or assisting others to rape and kidnap.

A trial at Chelmsford Crown Court heard that police found bottles of chloroform and an “abduction kit” with cable ties when officers raided the 38-year-old’s flat in Harlow, Essex.

Plumb’s kidnap plan involved attempting to “ambush” Willoughby at her family home, jurors heard.

Plumb argued in his defence that it was just online chat and fantasy.

Police believed Plumb was an 'imminent threat' to Holly Willoughby. Pic: PA
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Police believed Plumb was an ‘imminent threat’ to Holly Willoughby. Pic: PA

He was caught after an undercover police officer in the US infiltrated an online group called Abduct Lovers.

He told the officer, who used the pseudonym David Nelson, that he was “definitely serious” about his plot to kidnap the former This Morning host, leaving him with the impression that there was an “imminent threat” to Willoughby.

Due to the officer’s concern over Plumb’s post, evidence was passed to the FBI, who then contacted police in the UK.

Willoughby, who asked for her victim personal statement to be private, waived her right to anonymity in connection with the charge against Plumb of assisting or encouraging rape.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs files to appeal his conviction and sentence

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Sean 'Diddy' Combs files to appeal his conviction and sentence

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is appealing the conviction handed down to him earlier this year over prostitution charges relating to his former girlfriends and male sex workers.

The music mogul was given a 50-month sentence and a $500,000 fine for flying people around the US and abroad for sexual encounters, including his then-girlfriend and male sex workers, in violation of prostitution laws.

He was cleared of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking that could have put him in jail for life.

The two-page formal notice of appeal, seen by Sky News, was filed in Manhattan federal court on Monday, confirming he will be challenging both his conviction and his sentence.

It lists Combs’s defence council as Alexandra A E Shapiro, and shows a $605 (£450) docketing fee was paid to lodge the formal notice.

More detailed filings are expected to follow.

On the day of sentencing in early October the rapper’s lawyers had signalled they intended to appeal.

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Combs, 55, has been in custody since his arrest last year.

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Diddy jailed for more than four years

His seven-week trial earlier this year included four days of testimony from Cassie, now Cassie Ventura Fine, who told the court she was coerced and sometimes blackmailed into sexual encounters with male sex workers, referred to as “freak offs”.

Jurors were also shown video clips of Combs dragging and beating her in a Los Angeles hotel hallway after one of those sessions in 2016.

Ahead of the sentencing, Cassie also submitted a letter to the judge, calling Combs a “manipulator” and saying she would fear for her safety should he be immediately released.

Diddy and Cassie at the premiere for a film she starred in, just days after the 2016 hotel incident. Pic: zz/Galaxy/STAR MAX/IPx/ AP
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Diddy and Cassie at the premiere for a film she starred in, just days after the 2016 hotel incident. Pic: zz/Galaxy/STAR MAX/IPx/ AP

Ahead of his sentencing, Combs told the court he admitted his past behaviour was “disgusting, shameful and sick”, and apologised personally to Cassie Ventura and “Jane”, another former girlfriend who testified anonymously during the trial.

He told the court he’d got “lost in my excess and lost in my ego”, but since his time in prison he has been “humbled and broken to my core,” adding “I hate myself right now… I am truly sorry for it all.”

Judge Arun Subramanian, who had rejected bail for the rapper several times before sentencing, told him that he would get through his time in prison and would still “have a life afterwards,” calling it “a chance for renewal and redemption”.

He was facing a maximum of 20 years in prison for the prostitution-related charges, so the sentence was towards the lower end of the scale.

Prosecutors had argued he should spend at least 11 years behind bars, while Combs’s lawyers had called for him to be freed almost immediately due to time already served since his arrest just over a year ago.

Sky News has contacted Combs’s lawyers for comment.

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