September 10, 2007: "Leave Britney Alone!"

September 10, 2007: At the dawn of the social media era, one of its first "viral videos" "goes viral."

The night before, the MTV Video Music Awards were held at the Palms Casino Resort in Paradise, Nevada, outside Las Vegas. The opening act was Britney Spears. In 1999, she burst onto the scene at the age of 17. Over the next 4 years, she became a bigger and bigger star.

In 2003, she broke up with singer Justin Timberlake, and her life began spinning out of control. In 2004, she married Kevin Federline, and they had 2 children. By the time of the 2007 VMAs, they were divorced, and she had been seen in public having shaved her head and smashed a car with a sledgehammer.

At the VMAs, she sang her new single, "Gimme More." She didn't wear much, which was hardly unusual for her: A black, jewel-encrusted bikini and black boots. But her once-sharp dancing ability appeared to have left her, her vocals were weak, and it looked like she was just going through the motions, wanting to be anywhere else on the planet except that stage. Vinay Menon of the Toronto Star wrote that she "looked hopelessly dazed."

The next person onstage was comedian Sarah Silverman, who called her "a woman who, at 25, had already accomplished in her life everything she ever will." Interviewed for a 2021 documentary about Britney and her struggle with mental illness, Silverman expressed regret for her comments. But she was hardly alone in ripping Britney and her performance.

A YouTube blogger then using the name Chris Crocker, appearing to be male and wearing makeup, but identifying as female, posted a video titled "Leave Britney alone!" (There was no Capital A in the title.) The next day, September 10, Crocker posted a video titled "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE! (part 2)." She slammed gossip columnist Perez Hilton and reality TV star Simon Cowell for their comments about Britney.

She cited the example of actress-model Anna Nicole Smith, who had died the preceding February, only 39 years old, after a troubled personal life, and said she didn't want Britney to end up like Anna Nicole. She ended the video almost completely hysterical in her defense of her pop idol: "All you people care about is readers and making money off of her. She's a human! Leave Britney alone!" The video got over 2 million views within 24 hours.

Some people didn't get it, thinking that the video was performance art, or satire, rather than the sincere defense of Britney that it was. And the parodies abounded, ranging from defenses of President George W. Bush to Bryan McCabe, a Toronto Maple Leafs player whose "own goal" cost his team a goal on October 15, 2007: Steve Dangle, a YouTuber and Leafs fan, yelled, "The Leafs haven't won the Cup in 40 years? He's only 32! Leave Bryan McCabe alone! Go, Leafs, go!"

Britney was involuntarily placed in a conservatorship. She had successful albums in 2008 and 2011, and in 2013 she began a 4-year concert residency at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. I was surprised by this, until I did the math: She was 31, and when Elvis Presley became the 1st rock star with a Vegas residency, he was 34. So it wasn't that odd.

In 2019, she began to fight back against her conservatorship, because all her money was going to her parents. Her fans began the online #FreeBritney movement. In 2021, the conservatorship was terminated, and her life became her own again.

In 2015, Chris Crocker deactivated her YouTube channel. In 2021, now using the name Cara Cunningham and identifying as female, she created an OnlyFans account to reach her fans. 

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September 10, 2007 was a Monday. This was also the day the New England Patriots' "Spygate" scandal went public. I have a separate entry for that event.

The NFL held 2 Monday Night Football games. The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens, 27-20 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati. And the San Francisco 49ers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 20-17 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. Óliver Pérez outpitched Tim Hudson. David Wright hit a home run.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Scott Kazmir pitched 7 innings of 5-hit shutout ball, and 2 relievers completed the shutout with no more hits. David Ortiz appeared only as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-5 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Ryan Howard doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Florida Marlins, 5-4 at Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat Milwaukee Brewers, 9-0 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Tony Armas Jr. pitched 6 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and 2 relievers completed the 4-hit shutout.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 12-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-2 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Yes, both Chicago teams were at home on the same day; no, they didn't both win.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Bengie Molina hit 2 home runs for the Giants. Barry Bonds, in his last month as an active player, went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 9-3 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-5.

* And the New York Yankees, the Baltimore Orioles, the Cincinnati Reds, the Houston Astros, the Los Angeles Angels, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers were not scheduled to play.