With the storyline aligning with what Spears shared in court in some uncomfortable ways, they have many questions and opinions surrounding the origins of the episode and just how much the real princess of pop inspired it.
The story got even more disturbing when Catherine continued to profit off Ashley by using her brain waves to create new songs and getting a hologram to appear in her place.
That led fans to call out the similarities to Ashley O’s story on Twitter, with some noting that they’d always seen it and others having just gotten there.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in June 2019, Brooker said that he had been “discussing the rise of holographic versions of artists — Prince and Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse.” He found it “extremely ghoulish” that people who have “been chewed up by the fame industry” would be brought back.
The following year, she further discussed her Black Mirror gig with Variety, telling the outlet that she related to Ashley O’s desire to explore another genre, because that’s where she was after Hannah Montana.
While Brooker and Cyrus only named a few, TMZ later reported that its sources had also specifically cited Christina Aguilera as well as, yes, Spears.