Howard Stern now supports the Free Britney movement, despite years of mockery at Britney Spears

Howard Stern revealed his support for Britney Spears and the fan-driven # FreeBritney movement on his Sirius / XM radio show this week.

The 67-year-old shock jock admitted on the air that he was persuaded to support the 39-year-old pop legend after watching the documentary Framing Britney Spears in the New York Times Presents.

The move marks a significant turnaround for the host, who has mocked Spears on his radio show for years.

‘I think I’m Free Britney now, I think I’m full of Free Britney,’ Stern said while chatting with his longtime co-host Robin Quivers.

The radio fixture was not convinced Spears was able to manage her massive estate, but pointed out that other famous men have not been cut off from their fortunes like them.

He compared her to men grappling with public mental health or substance abuse, including Shia LaBeouf, Gary Busey, and Charlie Sheen, along with fellow musicians such as Ozzy Osbourne and Kanye West.

Ozzy [Osbourne] bit off the head of a bat during a business meeting. He’s in charge of his own finances, ”he said.

Framing Britney Spears examines the Toxic singer’s career from a contemporary perspective.

Many fans of the singer were outraged by some of the interviews she faced early in her career, including a scene with a European journalist asking her about her breasts.

Diane Sawyer came under fire from viewers (and even the hosts of The Talk) for excerpts from her 2003 interview with Spears, in which she questioned her about her breakup with Justin Timberlake and hinted at rumors that she was cheating on him.

‘You broke his heart. You did something that hurt him so much, hurt him so much. What have you done?’ the journalist asked the singer, and then only 22.

Timberlake was also criticized for his actions around the time he broke up with Spears, including his choice to feature a Britney lookalike in his Cry Me A River video and his public comments on their private affairs.

The singer recently offered a vague public apology to both Spears and Janet Jackson, whose chest he exposed at Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004. Her career was significantly affected, but Timberlake never had the same repercussions.

Stern’s support for Spears’ efforts to end her conservatorship runs counter to some of his earlier public statements about her.

In 2012, he took issue with Britney’s stint as a judge on The X Factor at a press conference at The Friars Club in New York City.

“I think we’re going to tune in to see her, to see if she can function through the thing,” he said according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“I think Britney will sit there and eat a lollipop and wear a sexy outfit … I’ll tune in to see what kind of train wreck she is, absolutely.”

In 2003, Stern asked Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst if they had sex while he was a guest on the show.

Durst suggested they joined the lyrics to a previously unreleased track from his rap rock band, “Ain’t it funny afraid to admit it / First night the Limp dog made it.”