Ashley Segura and Chelsea Dauwalder hold a #FreeBritney banner during a Free Britney rally outside the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, July 14, 2021. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – While a neon pink crowd danced on the stairs of the State Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, similar crowds gathered simultaneously around the world with a single message: Free Britney.
The glittering rally visitors held signs saying “End the TOXIC Conservatory” and “If it can happen to her, it can happen to you”. They sang “Jail Jamie! Free Britney!”
Some of them mumbled the lyrics of the Britney song in the background: “I’ve been Miss American Dream since I was 17.
“It doesn’t matter whether I enter the scene or sneak into the Philippines.
“They’re still going to put pictures of my bum in the magazine.”
Britney fans checked their phones for updates on the Conservatory, and the chorus of the song underscored their conversations.
“I hope I will wreak havoc.
“And end up in court.
“Are you sure now that you want a piece of me?”
Shannon Egan, Free Britney Utah founder and rally organizer, stood in front of the crowd declaring the Spears case as a violation of human rights and “specifically a women’s rights issue.”
“I’m not just a fan, I’m a woman,” she said. “If a man with an umbrella got up and shaved his head, I doubt he would have been deprived of his rights.”
Psarah Johnson, chairman of the Disability Rights Action Committee, said that the situation with Britney and the Conservatory is all too familiar to disabled people and that people are largely unaware of these circumstances.
“I’m so glad people are seeing this now and realizing how wrong it is,” she said.
Disabled people in conservatories are not given the right to vote or to vote, emphasized Heidi Pomerleau, also from the Action Committee on Disability Rights.
“The listed people should be up here, but they have no right to,” she said, adding that the general public is largely ignorant of the intricacies of the subject because they cannot speak.
Egan stated that she didn’t even know what a conservatory was until the Spears situation became known. She and the speakers agreed that Spears fans, along with the media, were largely involved in this ignorance and stigma.
“We liked everyone. We all clicked. And we all shared,” said songwriter and performer Jacob Berkowitz. “Now we have a chance to turn that around.”
In trying to support her, her fans have filled their kidnappers’ pockets and read the clickbait stories that are destroying her reputation, said rally spokesman Darren Willison.
“We all owe her an apology. We failed, ”he said. “Other celebrities can learn from mistakes and grow instead of being punished.”
He urged the crowd and media to stop engaging in the celebrity gossip that made Spears deteriorate and respect her decisions.
The #FreeBritney movement arguably began on April 22, 2019, when Spears fans gathered in front of West Hollywood City Hall with signs saying “#FreeBritney” and “The Truth Will Set Them Free”. At first, most people weren’t sure why Spears needed to be freed. These fans digged deep after Spears canceled her Vegas residency and entered Foster care for some “me-time”.
The theory was that Spears was controlled and her free will was taken away directly in public because she was placed in a conservatory department under her father, Jamie Spears. There was evidence that Britney Spears tried to get out of the conservatory, but the court documents were sealed to the public.
“Britney’s Gram” podcasters Tess Barker and Barbara Gray begin the movement to scrutinize Spears’ Instagram for signs that she is not doing well and has been censored and controlled. They were joined by more fans around the world, but Spears never made a public statement confirming the theories, even after the popular and recently Emmy-nominated New York Times documentary “Framing Britney Spears” came out.
On June 23, Spears issued a 24-minute statement in court that largely upheld fan theories.
“I really believe these conservatories are abusive,” she said. “Basically, this conservatory does me much more harm than good. I deserve to have a life I’ve worked all my life. I deserve to have the same rights as everyone else. “
In her statement, Spears claimed that she would not be allowed to marry or have a baby under the conservatory. She was told that she cannot remove her IUD to have another baby.
“I just want my life back,” she said. “It’s been 13 years and it’s enough.”
Several speakers in Salt Lake City on Wednesday called for action by Utah Senators Mike Lee and Mitt Romney to do something to end conservatory abuse.
Egan stated that this will be the first of many rallies, not just here but around the world, until Britney is released from her conservatory.
These people, mostly strangers, from all over the state hugged and danced and sang together, united by their love for the pop star and their hope that she could live a peaceful life.
“Everyone can agree that Britney somehow shaped the people we are today. We all have a little bit of Britney,” said Willison. “And trust me, you don’t want a piece of us.”
Egan was a Spears fan from the start, even if it was a little embarrassing to say you liked her.
When Egan was 22, she traveled to Oregon to see Spears on the 2004 Onyx Hotel Tour. After the concert, she saw that there was an online auction to buy some Spears clothing. One shirt in particular caught her eye and she knew she had to have it. It said, “Oopsie, I said the F-word.” She paid $ 500 for the property she loved.
Egan, author and former freelance journalist and press secretary for the United Nations, knows what it is like to make long-term recovery from drug and alcohol addiction and is an attorney and award-winning scholarship for addiction recovery organizations. After Spears began her infamous decline, Egan felt with the pop star.
“She was so desperate. It’s never been the same, and now we know why, ”said Egan. “So many people feel that something is wrong with their situation, but she didn’t say anything because she didn’t have a voice.”
Jamie Spears, father of singer Britney Spears, has asked the court that oversees his daughter’s conservatory to investigate her testimony before a judge about the court’s control over her medical treatment and personal life. (Photo: Associated Press)
“We come together in love,” said Egan. “I was so mad that this even happened, but there is so much love in the movement. I worked with the Free Britney movement in LA and they welcomed me with open arms.”
Egan said when Spears finally spoke up, she and others around the world knew they had to act to support them.
“I knew about the movement and have followed it for the past few years, but I thought, ‘Britney doesn’t speak so I’m not against it.’ Your sharing of her voice has given me permission to feel safe to stand up for her, ”she said.
“[Britney] represents all of our human rights, especially marginalized groups … If someone like her can be exploited in public, what does that mean for the rest of us?
– Shannon Egan
So she decided to start Free Britney Utah. She was not alone in her activism. Other Free Britney chapters appeared around the world and organized rallies around the world to end conservatories, raise awareness of conservatory abuse, and advocate reform of the probate system.
On June 30, Utah MP Burgess Owens joined the movement by signing a letter written by Florida Republican MP Matt Gaetz inviting the pop star to testify in the US Congress.
Paris Hilton, along with many other celebrities known as Democrats, has also stood up to Spears, citing her own allegations of abuse against a boarding school in Utah.
“This widespread support is testament to Britney as a performer and singer and her music, who has influenced so many people like the LGBTQ community, women seeking empowerment and so many others,” said Egan. “What happens to her is a serious violation of human rights. And when you hate someone’s human rights and do it so publicly and so secretly, it basically hits us all in the stomach.”
“It’s not about whether you like Britney Spears or not; it’s about human rights, ”she added.
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