Iran’s state-sponsored media, the Islamic Republic News Agency, has shifted its focus from state propaganda to American icon Britney Spears. After Spears tweeted her support for Iranian citizens currently protesting the country’s morality police, IRNA fired back on Twitter by mentioning Spears’ guardianship for years. “American singer Britney Spears was placed under the guardianship of her father in 2008 due to her mental health issues,” the organization tweeted. “It gave Britney’s father control over his finances and even aspects of his personal life such as pregnancy, remarriage and visiting his teenage sons.” The IRNA tweet and media response are part of an ongoing (and failing) strategy to drown out widespread support for Iran’s domestic protests.
The current protests center on the September death of 22-year-old activist Mahsa Amini. Amini was arrested by Iranian vice police in Tehran on the pretext that she was not properly dressed in the required religious headscarf and modest dress. She died in police custody. Following news of her detention and death, Amini’s family spoke out, saying the girl was beaten to death by police. IRNA has kept denying the claim and claim the girl had a heart attack, even as Amini’s death sparked some of the biggest nationwide protests in years.
Earlier this year, Spears married Iranian-American actor and model Sam Asghari. Since the protests began, the couple have been vocal about their political beliefs, including their support for Iranian protesters. ‘Me and my husband support the people of Iran who are fighting for freedom’, Spears tweeted on Sunday.
IRNA didn’t even have the decency to quote-tweet the ‘Baby One More Time’ singer, instead. screenshot the tweet to include a user’s response that said “Nice tweet. Can you already manage your own money? »
The IRNA tweet was accompanied by the hashtag #MahsaAmini. The late activist’s name has been used as a rallying cry for ongoing protests against the country’s vice police. Over the past month, IRNA’s social media accounts have continued to use the hashtag to fill pro-protest online spaces with government narratives.
The organization appears to be taking inspiration from the recent popularity of comic government accounts. Since the start of the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Ukraine’s official Twitter account has taken a comfortable approach to social media, tweeting memes and clapbacks between serious videos and articles on the conflict. And this is not the first time that IRNA has pushed back against big-name support for the protesters. Last week, the organization released a meme claiming that international superstar Shakira was ignoring police violence against women in the United States and Saudi Arabia, continuing to claim that Amini had died of a heart attack instead of police brutality.
But their attempt at a comedic media response was unable to break through a groundswell of celebrity support for the Iranian protests. Stars like Bella Hadid, Justin Bieber, Olivia Coleman, Angelina Jolie and even Jacques-Paul spoke out against reports of police brutality against protesters and called for greater awareness of the Iranian movement. And within the country, protests from Iran continue to grow. Over the past week, hundreds of children have joined the ranks of protesters and cries of “Women, Life, Freedom” have inspired potential European Union sanctions – demonstrating that even with the pithy comments of the organization on pop stars, international support and the voices of hundreds of thousands of Iranian protesters continue to resonate louder.
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