Bobby Brown says it’s “My Prerogative” to hate the Britney Spears version of his song. But fans of the pop diva aren’t having it.
Brown appeared on Club Shay Shay, a podcast hosted by football champion Shannon Sharpe, to talk about R&B, his career, and why he isn’t a fan of artists sampling his music.
“I don’t think they really did justice to any of the samples they’ve done to my songs,” Brown declared, before calling out Britney Spears directly for her 2004 sultry pop rendition of “My Prerogative” from his hit 1988 album Don’t be Cruel.
“Britney Spears butchered “Prerogative,” Brown said, explaining why he still gave her permission to record the track.
“Teddy Riley produced it, but that was a butchering that I couldn’t take it. I cleared it only because it was Britney Spears and I was thinking… Teddy Riley is doing it too, so you know, but I felt it was a butchering.”
As soon as the podcast clip began making the rounds on the internet, Britney fans were up in arms, flooding social media with clap backs defending the pop star’s version of the R&B classic.
“He’s entitled not to like it cause it’s his song but I absolutely loved her version!” one Redditor wrote.
“💯 agree with this," another user commented.
Some fans even argued that people wouldn’t know about that song if it wasn’t for Britney’s cover of it.
Although this may be the first time Brown’s comments on Britney’s cover went viral, it’s not the first time he publicly expressed his dislike of it.
In 2005, he told Contact Music: “I love the video. I’m not impressed with the music. It’s not mine… Call me Britney, we’ll get together and I’ll show you how to really do it."
Then, in an interview with New York Magazine, he commented on Britney’s cover once again: “Why try to fix something that ain’t broke? That’s what I say.”
Whether you agree or disagree with Brown, one this is for sure: Come for Britney, and her fans will come for you.
