Politics make strange bedfellows.
How else to explain the support that scandal-ridden Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is giving to Britney Spears as she seeks to end the conservatorship that has restricted her rights for 13 years?
On Wednesday, Gaetz — who is currently under investigation by the FBI over allegations of sex trafficking and having sex with a minor — spoke to the singer’s fans outside a Los Angeles courthouse during a hearing regarding Spears’ controversial conservatorship case.
“Britney’s been abused by the media, she’s been abused by a grifter father, and she has been abused by the American justice system,” Gaetz said. “We need to come together and create ... federal change in the law that will free Britney and the millions of Americans who are impacted by a corrupt guardianship system that empowers people to take advantage of the weak.”
Gaetz then tried to unify America around the “one thing we can all agree on:” that Spears’ dad, Jamie Spears, “is a dick,” he said.
Although some might conclude that Gaetz cynically jumped on the “Free Britney” bandwagon to steer attention away from his various scandals, The Hill noted that the Florida Republican invited the singer to testify about her conservatorship before Congress earlier this month.
Still, Twitter users were perplexed by Gaetz’s appearance at the rally.
Some Spears fans warned that he wouldn’t help her cause.
Gaetz isn’t the only Republican trying to milk something from the attention being given to Spears’ court battle.
On Wednesday, Forbes reported that the National Republican Congressional Committee sought to raise funds off Spears’ legal challenges by texting donors that she is “a victim of toxic gov’t overreach & censorship,” urging them to “join the fight for freedom.”