“HOLY SMOKES SHITBALLS,” Britney Spears wrote on Instagram late last night, in response to media coverage of her activity this weekend. This was part of a two-pronged response by Spears and her husband Sam Asghari after a few days of somewhat strange public and social media behavior.
To sum it up as briefly as possible: Spears and Asghari went out for a meal at the upscale chain restaurant JOEY (the Woodland Hills outpost, where the pork dumpling appetizers cost “14 1/4”) and were met with members of the public who felt it necessary to take cell phone videos of them.
From there it gets a little confusing. TMZ’s initial report said that Spears’s reaction “was manic” and she began talking in gibberish. Asghari was said to have stormed out in a huff, leaving the pop icon alone (with her bodyguard) for two minutes, and speaking “not another language, just unrecognizable speech.” There’s video of her alone at the table (covering her face with her menu) but considering just how loud it is at this place it is a little unclear who, if anyone, is babbling in an unknown tongue. You can watch for yourself.
After this made news, and sparked discussion on social media, Spears made some curious posts on Instagram. One was of an illustration of a woman at a restaurant declaring “They told me I couldn’t/that’s why I did” and another was a dance routine replete with middle fingers to the tune of “I Touch Myself” by the Divinyls. As we wrote yesterday, these were, indeed, isolated moments that could come across as peculiar, but whether it was evidence of a larger “meltdown,” as described by outlets like the New York Post and the Daily Mail, is open to debate.
On Sunday, Asghari told TMZ that this was a mountain out of a molehill. He explained that when going out sometimes “people are a little too excited to see my wife,” while miming a cell phone snap. “Fame comes with the territory,” he shrugged, adding that he simply went to get the car to get the hell out of there—he did not storm out or abandon Spears. “It is what it is, man,” he added, agreeing that being filmed while trying to have a meal is disrespectful, but “it comes with the territory and that’s it.”
He also wrote “Don’t believe what you read online people” on his Instagram Stories. (Alas, the ephemeral nature of that platform means this missive is now lost, like tears in the rain.)
Late last night, Spears uploaded another unusual image to Instagram—this time an illustration from a Hong Kong-based artist with the handle carriedraw. Next to a picture of a very small person pouring syrup on pancakes, Spears had a lot to say about the recent developments.
