Britney Spears was “dragged” on stage in Vancouver after complaining there was too much B.C. bud smoke in the air.
This is the shocking claim of Valerie Moise, one of the pop star’s former back-up dancers, who wrote in a recent Instagram Story: “I remember crying backstage when Miss B did not want to perform because there was a lot of weed smoke in the audience. They dragged her by her arms back to the stage anyway.”
According to Moise, Spears “didn’t want to perform because if the conservatorship caught drugs in her system they would take away her kids.”
Moise did not name the concert venue or tour but fans have deduced it was during The Circus Starring Britney Spears show on April 8, 2009 at GM Place, now Rogers Arena. (Moise, whose Instagram account is set to private, could not be reached for comment.)
Spears was only 14 months into a conservatorship imposed after she suffered a mental health crisis.
Britney Spears: iHeartRadio.ca Music News Coverage
CTV News reported on April 9, 2009 that Spears walked off stage “citing smoke in the air” but returned after about 30 minutes. A rep for Spears said in a statement after the show that “crew members above the stage became ill due to a ventilation issue.”
In a column posted on April 9, 2009, the Vancouver Sun's Shelley Fralic wrote: "Seems all that purple haze under the roof at GM Place Wednesday night wasn’t part of the Britney Spears pyrotechnic Circus act, so the lip-syncing superstar stopped her performance about 15 minutes into the concert and walked off the stage, returning 30 minutes later only after the ventilation was kicked into high gear and the stage cleared of the smoke swirling about from all those cigarettes and joints lighting up the dark in the crowd of 18,000."
About 15 minutes after Spears left the stage, a P.A. announcer told fans: “It’s become a little bit uncomfortable and unsafe for the performers, including Ms. Spears ... This is a non-smoking building. The show will resume as soon as the air around the stage is clear. The performers will not resume until the air clears.”
A post dated April 8, 2009 on a now-defunct website read: “Buzz is that she was afraid the secondhand pot smoke would get on her hair and mess up the random drug tests she has to do to keep custody of her kids.”
Spears finished the show and ended by telling the crowd: “Thanks Vancouver. You were wonderful. Drive safe. Don’t smoke weed! Rock out with your c**ks out!”
Spears is currently trying to end the conservatorship (the next hearing is set for Sept. 29). In June, the singer told Judge Brenda Penny: “My dad and anyone involved in this conservatorship and my management who played a huge role in punishing me when I said no — ma’am, they should be in jail."