Britney Spears hearing crashes LA Court listening system

The Los Angeles County Superior Court website partially crashed Wednesday after it was overrun with people trying to remotely listen to pop singer Britney Spears testify in her conservatorship hearing.

Confused members of the public took to Twitter after the court’s remote listening function for all cases crashed and they were unable to listen to any hearings, including Spears’ 1:30 appearance when she gave an impassioned speech requesting an end to her conservatorship by her father, James Pernell Spears.

“It’s embarrassing and demoralizing,” Spears said, according to news reports.

Although most of the hearing was inaccessible to remote listeners, the website regained functionality at the end.

After raising concerns that confidential court documents were given to the press, and that someone had been recording the hearing via the remote listening function, Judge Brenda Penny severed the connection in the middle of her own sentence and the hearing was again inaccessible to the public.

“I don’t know if the parties are aware or not but it was brought to my attention by court administration that documents deemed confidential were provided to the media,” Penny said. “I don’t know how that happened but we’ve been advised by administration that it does not appear to have come from the court. … I’m concerned that it was put out there in the public sphere, things that were confidential to Ms. Spears.”

The judge added, “I understand there has been an issue ... that someone is recording the proceeding and so we will shut down RAA [Remote Audio Attendance] right n….”

Public information officers did not respond to questions about the malfunctioning website.

Attorneys have reported having trouble with the remote technology since the court began using it during the COVID-19 pandemic but this is believed to be the first time the entire system has crashed.

James Spears and Los Angeles attorney Andrew Wallet were appointed to watch over the singer’s estate and physical well-being, as well as to help manage her financial assets. Her lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, argued that the singer is afraid of her father and would not perform as long as he was in charge, according to news reports.