Britney Won't Show Skin for Anti-Fur Ad

By C. Young

12/14/2001 at 10:40 AM EST

Pop singer Britney Spears, 20, has backed out of a plan to pose for an anti-fur campaign by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) following widespread media reports that she was going to appear nude, Reuters reported. Spears -- not shy about wearing revealing outfits for performances -- has had a rocky relationship with the outspoken group from the start: PETA slammed her in a letter, accusing her of cruelty to animals, when the diva's stage show included live animals, such as a caged tiger. She rejiggered her stage act, got rid of the animals, and then agreed to pose -- clothed -- for PETA's anti-fur campaign, which in the past has included actresses Kim Basinger and Pamela Anderson. Spears's poster was to be used by New York's Centro Fly nightclub as part of its new policy denying admission to revelers dressed in fur. But it all broke down when representatives for Spears saw tabloid reports that the singer would pose nude, attributed to PETA campaign director Dan Mathews. "Notwithstanding the meaningful work that PETA does, we cannot be involved with an organization that would distort the truth," Spears's publicist Lisa Kasteler told Reuters, adding that the singer "still feels strongly about animal rights" and would "find another organization to be involved with." For his part, Mathews denies saying she would pose nude: "We simply confirmed . . . that we planned on doing a poster with her. We never said anything about nudity. If the downside is that the whole world knows that Britney Spears is anti-fur, that's a good thing."