Not so innocent: was Britney Spears' controversial Stoke Newington video shoot really just a matter of miscalculation?

Britney Spears caused a right kerfuffle in Stoke Newington this week, as she chose N16 to shoot her latest music video. The controversial pop princess claims to have chosen London herself, for her first video to be filmed outside of the U.S; and footage shows Brit and her fella committing armed robberies on local shops before making a Bonnie and Clyde style getaway.

But Hackney Council aren't happy with the pistol-toting antics, claiming on London Tonight on Thursday that they didn't give permission for a replica firearm to be used in the scenes. Diane Abbott also criticised the appropriacy of the action given the recent rioting in the borough.

No stranger to controversy, one does wonder whether this was really just an air-headed misjudgement on the part of Team Hollywood and the baldy-beauty: making a global superstar act out thefts on shops in North London six weeks after we hit international headlines for being plundered by hundreds of hoodrats does seem like an unlikely thing to forget when choosing locations for a major video shoot. Is this just a PR stunt to get her newest track into the UK limelight? And should we actually take seriously the claims of Diane Abbott and co. who claim that it's scenes like these that encourage the urban youth to join gangs and start riots?

Photo courtesy of EuPapazzi at Flickr