Britney Spears won't strip for fur
Date: 17-Dec-01
Country: USA
Author: Steve Gorman
Spears' publicist and the campaign director for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) each denied widely circulated media reports on Thursday that the singer was planning to appear nude in an anti-fur poster campaign for the animal rights group.
And Spears went one step further - she said she was not planning to pose at all, not even with her clothes on.
According to both camps, Spears had considered providing a photo of herself fully clothed for a PETA poster that the popular New York nightclub Centro Fly would use to promote its new policy of refusing entry to patrons wearing fur.
But the singer's representatives cut off those discussions after seeing media reports attributed to PETA campaign director Dan Mathews saying Spears planned to pose naked, Spears' publicist Lisa Kasteler said.
"Notwithstanding the meaningful work that PETA does, we cannot be involved with an organisation that would distort the truth," Kasteler said. She added that Spears "still feels strongly about animal rights" and would "find another organisation to be involved with."
Mathews, quoted by the New York Post as saying, "We are really thrilled to have Britney join our new crop of fur-fighters," denied ever suggesting she would appear nude for a PETA poster.
"We've never distorted anything," he told Reuters. "We simply confirmed ... that we planned on doing a poster with her. We never said anything about nudity."
He suggested the flap would blow over and added, "If the downside is that the whole world knows Britney Spears is anti-fur, that's a good thing."
PETA first contacted Spears to admonish the pop star for performing at the MTV Awards with a caged tiger on stage, and Spears had since ceased using live animals in her act, Mathews said. She also allowed PETA to post photos of her dressed in faux leather on the group's Web site pleatheryourself.com, he said.
A string of other celebrities have appeared nude in recent years for PETA's "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" poster campaign, including actresses Pamela Anderson and Kim Basinger, supermodel Christy Turlington and singer Melissa Etheridge.
The latest was actress Dominique Swain, the star of the 1997 remake of "Lolita." She posed writing the slogan "I'd Rather Go Naked ... " on a chalkboard.
Like the others, Swain's poster was shot from the side, in such a way as to avoid exposure of any "vital parts," Mathews said.
