Craig Ferguson is garnering praise for an old clip of him refusing to mock Britney Spears

As the hype for the new documentary on Britney Spears, Framing Britney Spears, reaches a fever pitch, fans on Twitter are scouring the internet archives for clues on how the “Baby One More Time” pop princess has been treated in the last 20+ years since she hit the global stage. In a sea of toxic takes, misogyny, and cruel jabs surrounding mental illness, one shining beacon from 2007 has resurfaced – former The Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson using his monologue to show empathy, compassion, and kindness.

“Tonight — no Britney Spears jokes,” Craig said around the time that Britney Spears shaved her head and then attacked a paparazzi’s car with an umbrella. “This woman has two kids, she’s 25 years old; she’s a baby herself. She’s a baby.”

The Scottish host said at the time he began to “feel uncomfortable about making fun of” celebrities at rock bottom and that comedy should be about “attacking the powerful people, the politicians and the Trumps and the blowhards.”

When he mentions the death of model Anna Nicole Smith, the audience laughs expecting him to dance on her grave, to which he admonishes his audience, “It’s not a joke.”

“We shouldn’t be attacking the vulnerable people,” he continued. “This is totally a mea culpa, this is just for me. I think my aim has been off a bit recently and I want to change it a bit.”

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Craig, who hosted The Late Late Show between 2005 and 2014 before James Corden took over, admitted that the show’s writers had written jokes for that monologue mocking Britney, but he refused to do them. Instead he shared his own stories of addiction and recovery.

“The thing is, you can embarrass somebody to death,” he said that night, and later said he was sure he would be fired for refusing to perform those Britney jokes as written.

As this clip has been making the rounds on social media, fans are heaping praise upon the Scot for doing what no one else at the time was doing – seeing Britney as a human and not a punchline.

Framing Britney Spears chronicles the “Toxic” singer’s ongoing conservatorship legal battle with her father, Jamie Spears, as well as her portrayal in the media. While social media has found a new hero in Craig Ferguson, it has not been so kind to Britney’s ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake and 20/20 host Diane Sawyer; both of whom are being lambasted for the way they perpetrated and compounded the public’s view of Britney by continually throwing shade (Timberlake), or by cornering her with sexist and harmful questions (Sawyer).

Many celebrities, like Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, Courtney Love and Andy Cohen have all tweeted #FreeBritney, #JusticeForBritney and #WeAreSorryBritney. During her pre-Super Bowl performance, Miley Cyrus also gave a shout out to the “Gimme More” singer, chanting, “We love Britney!”

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