Comedian’s 2007 monologue about why he refused to make fun of Britney Spears is still relevant today

An old clip of late-night host Craig Ferguson refusing to make fun of Britney Spears has resurfaced on social media after a new documentary about the singer was released.

Spears famously shaved her head in front of paparazzi after leaving rehab in 2007.

While others joked about the incident, Ferguson criticised the act of mocking vulnerable celebrities and declined to join in.

He compared the media frenzy to the TV show America's Funniest Home Videos stating: “You'd be laughing at the kid falling over and you're like wait a minute, put down the damn camera and help your kid."'

Ferguson said “people are falling apart, people are dying,” referring to Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith, who had just passed away from an overdose at the age of 39.

When people in the audience started laughing after he mentioned she died, he continued: “It's not a joke. It stops being funny.”

He added he had begun to “feel uncomfortable about making fun of these people” and added comedy should be about “attacking the powerful people, the politicians and the Trumps and the blowhards... We shouldn't be attacking the vulnerable people.”

The then host of The Late Late Show went on to admit his own previous mistakes and vowed not to ridicule Spears.

“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.

“So tonight, no Britney Spears jokes. This woman has two kids, she's 25 years old, she's a baby herself. She's a baby.”

Years later, Ferguson said he had been “convinced” he was going to get fired for refusing to perform jokes written for him at Spears’ expense by the show's writers.

Social media users praised the monologue after it was reshared by a Britney fan account.

Others pointed out the comedian also brought up now former president Donald Trump.

The new documentary Framing Britney Spears looks at the treatment she received from the media over the course of her career and the pop star’s ongoing battle with her father about the conservatorship which gives him control over many aspects of her life.