Britney Spears and 'Tiger King' Star Doc Antle Pictured Together During Her 2001 VMAs Performance

The animal trainer was onstage during the singer's iconic 'I'm a Slave 4 U' performance.

Britney Spears' 2001 MTV Video Music Awards performance was even more iconic than we thought! Following the release of Tiger King on Netflix, fans of the docuseries and the 38-year-old pop star found a connection between Spears and one of the trainers featured on the show.

While the Netflix series largely focuses on Joe Exotic, another tiger trainer featured is South Carolina-based Doc Antle, who owns Myrtle Beach Safari. It turns out that Antle, who mentioned his work on movies and TV shows during Tiger King, was involved in Spears' 2001 "I'm a Slave 4 U" performance.

In fact, he was photographed standing behind the singer throughout her time onstage. While Spears was wowing during the song, Antle was busy minding the tiger behind her.

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Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Evan Ross Katz, the Twitter user who was the first to post the pics of Spears and Antle, also shared a photo of the singer with someone who appeared to be Carole Baskin, another person featured on the docuseries.

The Spears-Baskin pic was shot down, though, as Big Cat Rescue, Baskin's company, denied that the animal advocate was the one in the pic.

After the show dropped on Netflix, Antle spoke out against how it portrayed both him and his zoo, calling the series "sensationalized entertainment."

"We have never had a USDA violation and work collaboratively with various state and federal wildlife agencies to ensure our animals receive the very best life each and every day," he wrote in part.

Watch the video below for more on Tiger King.

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