The new New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears (airing on FX and Hulu) completely resets the cultural narrative surrounding this pop icon, to say the least...The slightly over an hour-long documentary explores Britney's journey from being the world's biggest pop star and exposes the complex and hugely damaging machinery that transformed her into a pop star but also robbed her of her sense of self and her ability to control her own life. Decades later, we finally realize the collective role we all played in perpetuating her misogynistic framing in the media and her mental health (opens in new tab) suffering over the years, and countless viewers have gone online to apologize and cheer this star on with messages (opens in new tab) to the star online.

One apology that has yet to arrive is Justin Timberlake's. About 20 minutes into "Framing Britney Spears," the focus shifts to the breakup that became the talk of the world in 2002, when Brit and JT broke up after three years of dating. After the breakup, Timberlake was portrayed by the media as a heartbroken, sensitive musician, while Britney made headlines for her "wild night" and apparent "betrayal" of Timberlake and was accused in an interview with Diane Sawyer of causing her ex-boyfriend "a lot of pain and suffering." All breakups are completely one-sided.

Timberlake, on the other hand, did absolutely nothing to correct the narrative that positioned him as the victim of Britney's actions, as the clearly callous villain in their relationship. Instead, he profited from the music video for "Cry Me a River," one of his first solo singles, by furthering the rumor that he was duped by a cannibalistic vixen. The video, in which Timberlake sneaks into his ex-girlfriend's house, films himself making out with an anonymous dark-haired woman there, and leaves the video playing on TV so that his ex-girlfriend (then wearing Britney's trademark newsboy hat and low-rise, bootcut jeans) blonde) to discover it, playing the role of a revenge fantasy. Wow, very clever and not at all sexist!

The ex-boy bander has yet to comment on "framing Britney Spears," but in the meantime, many viewers have taken to his Instagram comments and his own social media feeds to demand a formal apology for his role in dehumanizing his ex and delegitimizing her own experience in the breakup demanding that he issue a formal apology for his role in the breakup.