Chris Crocker AKA 'Leave Britney Alone' Guy Speaks Out

Chris Crocker shares his thoughts on Britney Spears’ legal proceedings after being one of the few people who didn’t mock her in the aughts

Remember the viral video Chris Crocker made where he told people to leave Britney Spears alone? As a refresher, Crocker’s 2007 video made headlines during a time when almost EVERYONE had an opinion on Spear’s public struggles. At the time, the singer had been under fire for a series of very public stumbles and a then 19-year-old Crocker strongly defended the singer in what would go on to become one of the first viral YouTube videos. In retrospect, Crocker was one of the few people who seemed to have any empathy for Spears at the time and the once-viral video star is speaking out amid Spears’ recent legal woes.

Spears’ recent statement is the first time the singer spoke about the conservatorship, which was put in place in 2008. It came after she was initially hospitalized and received psychiatric treatment and now Spears is petitioning the court to remove her father Jamie Spears from his position as joint conservator of her financial and medical affairs.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Britney said, regarding her life under conservatorship, “I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized, you know, fake it till you make it, but now I’m telling you the truth, OK, I’m not happy. I can’t sleep. I’m so angry. It’s insane. And I’m depressed. I cry every day.”

Following the star’s recent virtual hearing, where the singer spoke about her “abusive” conservatorship, the now 33-year-old Crocker offered his take on the megastar legal woes.

https://www.tiktok.com/@chriscrockerofficial/video/6977134648325442821

“I don’t feel it’s my place to speak on it,” Chris told fans in a TikTok video. “I feel like today is about Britney being able to be heard and what she wants to say and her getting her freedom and her happiness back.”

The influencer went on to say, “It’s not about what I or anyone else has to say. It’s about Britney’s voice being heard and that’s what I’m so happy about, is she gets to be heard. No one has to speak for her and I think all we want is for Britney’s voice to be heard and for her to have her freedoms, because that’s what she deserves.”

Crocker’s 2007 video about Spears was mocked and laughed at, but watching it now in 2021 is eye-opening as he was seemingly the only person with any empathy for the singer.

“I know it’s hard to see Britney Spears as a person, but she is,” Crocker starts off the video. “She’s like you or I….all I care about is Britney’s well-being. All I want is for you to get well.”

Crocker recently uploaded a video about his frame of mind during the time he recorded his infamous “Leave Britney Alone” video. The influencer admitted that at the time of filming, his mother, an Iraq vet, was homeless and also living with mental illness.

“My whole family was trying to get them to believe in my mom again, so the parallel between what she was going through, me trying to tell people no, Britney can still turn this around like don’t throw her away like this,” Crocker explained. “That’s why I made the video and I was so upset and some people thought I was dramatic. I was fighting for my mom to get better.”

Crocker also admitted that after the 2007 video went viral, news that Spears didn’t appear to appreciate the video sent him into a spiral. That, coupled with the fact that he was the punchline of jokes at his expense, caused him to resent the singer. “I didn’t handle it the best way. Thinking she didn’t like me made me resentful. It made me feel like, ‘what was this for.’” That’s changed, he said. Spears “doesn’t owe me or anyone, anything, even if she thought my video was weird, that was her prerogative,” Crocker told fans.

Crocker’s support of Spears has re-emerged as a highlight of what kind of support the public should have offered Spears. (We’re looking in your direction, Justin Timberlake).

“I made the ‘Live Britney Alone’ video because I felt like people should leave you alone,” Chris said on Instagram, “and I feel like now, hopefully, the conservatorship ends and she can live her life the way she fucking wants to live it.”