Britney Spears seemed to take aim at pal Selena Gomez in a since deleted Instagram post accusing the singer of ‘shaming other women’ for showing their bodies on social media

Britney Spears appeared to hit out at pal Selena Gomez on Instagram – despite inviting her to her wedding.

In a bizarre post, which has since been edited, the 40-year-old seemed to take aim at a speech Selena made at the American Music Awards in 2016.

As she accepted the best Female Pop/Rock Artist gong, Selena said: “I don’t want to see your bodies on Instagram. I want to see what’s in here,” gesturing to her heart.

“I’m not trying to get validation, nor do I need it anymore,” the Lose You To Love Me singer added.

Sharing a snap of herself wearing a red bikini on Tuesday, Britney – who is known for her naked Instagram posts – looked to be referencing the speech before blasting women who ‘shame other women’.

Britney with Selena and Drew Barrymore at her recent wedding ( Image: Instagram)

Britney wrote: “Don’t you just love the nerve of women who stand firmly getting awards and speak on their beliefs about now showing their bodies on Instagram???

“They say ‘This is NOT something I would do’ yet those women are the very ones who get 4 million dollar budget videos made about sucking and licking on homemade ice cream!!!!”

The ice cream jibe is thought to be a reference to the 2020 song Selena did with South Korean pop group BLACKPINK called Ice Cream.

Selena giving her speech at the 2016 America Music Awards ( Image: FilmMagic)

Britney’s since deleted Instagram post appearing to blast Selena ( Image: Instagram)

“These other girls have nothing but beautiful bodies!!! Who cares if they flaunt it??? THEY SHOULD!!!” Britney continued.

“So the next time I see someone with a big budget video sucking on lollipops yet giving righteous speeches shaming other women for exposing their bodies, I would like to tell those people don’t be a hypocrite as you suck on your lollipop having HUGE budget dreams….”

She added: “Why would you stand firmly against girls getting attention JUST LIKE YOU and they have absolutely nothing???”

Selena in the Ice Cream video Britney appears to refer to ( Image: YG Entertainment Inc.)

Although Britney did not name Selena in the post, her 41 million Instagram followers were quick to speculate that was who she was talking about.

Commenting underneath, one fan wrote: “Girl… shut up, what’s this about? Stop obsessing over Selena again.”

“Brit dear, you didn’t get the message in Selena’s speech! She was not referring to you, let go! Stop shaming her,” said another.

A third simply wrote: “Leave Selena ALONE.”

While a fourth chimed in: “Selena has shown nothing but love and support for you throughout the years and in return she gets weekly shady Instagram posts from you… check yourself girl.”

Britney and husband Sam are now trying for a baby ( Image: Getty)

After receiving backlash from the post, Britney later deleted the words and replaced them with three rose emojis.

Her public hitting out at Selena comes as a shock, as the singer was one of the few guests to be invited to Britney’s wedding to Sam Asghari in June.

Other celebrity guests in attendance were Madonna, Paris Hilton, Drew Barrymore and Donatella Versace.

Selena featured heavily in Britney’s wedding snaps. Speaking about the special day, she said: “I am really happy for her [Britney]. It was beautiful. She wanted a fairytale wedding and she got it.”

Shortly after tying the knot, Britney wrote on social media: “Thanks to Selena for telling me all she wants is for me to be happy 3 times!!! It was a very, very, very special wedding!!!”