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Britney Spears’ VMA Snake Wrangler looks back 20 years later: “It could have been really dangerous.”
At the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards by Lindsay Parker, 20 years ago, Britney Spears provided one of the most exciting and talked-about numbers in VMA’s history at the peak of her performance. With a hotter, more sophisticated sound in Neptunes’ I’ma Slave 4 U, she hangs a 7-foot albino Burmese python on her pretty shoulder on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. , Pretended to be the ultimate. Snake charmer under control. But that was just a testament to the professionalism of pop stars. According to Mike Hano, a Jeep Wrangler that night, the Spears were actually horribly afraid of her scaly co-stars. “She was very, very scared at first. Former Vice President of the New York Reptile Amphibian Society, Mr. Hano told Yahoo Entertainment.” She is from Louisiana, where there are several types of venomous snakes. People sometimes bite, so she was very scared when I first appeared on the day of the first rehearsal. ”The spear had a reason to worry. Hano, who didn’t initially understand how sophisticated the production of “I’m a Slave 4 U” was when it was adopted, explains: [the python].. She had to dance herself with the snake on her shoulder and then hand it over to a third party … and it’s easy to ruin such a thing. You know, it wraps around your arm and you don’t want to let go. It could have been really dangerous, one take, as it was a live performance. Mr. Hano states that Python is a “relatively young animal” and is not fully developed. It then grew from about 7 feet 25 pounds to 15 feet 100 pounds. — And Burmese varieties are usually “quite mellow” and “quite manageable” when kept in captivity. “The bad thing is that they are tremendous, and most people don’t have the business to keep one of these because they’re big enough to kill you easily. And that’s it. It doesn’t mean that they kill you. It’s usually a so-called accident, a feeding reaction, and they think they’re shrinking their prey …. when they’re wrapped around something, they’re wrapped around what. The snakes continue to squeeze because they only know that it’s warm and struggling. In the 90’s, a 19-year-old youth here in New York City Hano said it was illegal to keep Burmese pythons as pets in New York City in 1999 and to use them in Spears’ VMA performances in New York City. He added that he needed to get a special permit from the Department of Health. With all this in mind, it’s no wonder Spears was clever when rehearsing in Python. Therefore, it was imperative that Hano spend a quality one-on-one time to reassure her. But to do that, he had to go through her aides. “They had my handler or something that was supposed to be my liaison and had me sit in the auditorium,” recalls Hano. “So I’m waiting until they need me, and I told this guy several times that I wanted to spend a few minutes alone with Mr. Spears, so she has questions and concerns Then she can talk to me privately, and if she intends to hug the snake, she can only look at me and her and the snake and try it away from anyone. If you feel a little uncomfortable, you can grab the back while holding the front, and as you get used to it, it will gradually move. To the point where they can hold the snake themselves. That’s what I am. This is the preferred method. If you may be scared and a little embarrassed, why do you want a hundred people to watch over you? And I said to this guy several times, “Especially she’s scared. If so, just take a few minutes with her. ” I don’t think she’s ever dealt with snakes. Awkward, but finally Hano was granted his request. “They didn’t even let me talk to her before. This is the first time I’ve met her — and I have this Python! And suddenly she’s not ready to do it Hmm. I found her uncomfortable, “he recalls. “However [the liaison] She sat by the side with me and realized that it wasn’t a big deal to hold a snake. So we did a rehearsal that day, and then I got a call from the agent that they wanted to do an additional rehearsal with the snake so that she would be very comfortable. that. “On the second day, Spears said,” Wherever the snake touched her during the rehearsal, she told me something about how she “has become urticaria.” This is really impossible, “Hano laughs. But in the end, he says she was “very professional and very focused.” It’s as if the director said, “OK, everyone’s got five,” basically everyone was walking behind the scenes, she was alone, and I’ve heard how to count her many times. I remember. She continued to practice her movements without playing music. It can be said that she was really a hard worker. And she was fine. She was great. Interestingly, there was also a tiger in the Spears jungle-themed “I’m a Slave 4 U” number, but the big cat turned out to have been processed by Tiger King star Doc Antle. However, most fans are yellow pythons. A group of animal rights activists like PETA blamed Spears’ VMA performance at the time, but Hano recalls that his anger was more focused on tigers than on snakes. “And I agree to some extent with that,” he says. “These animals aren’t meant to be around fireworks or loud music. In the perfect world, tigers don’t. Not for snakes, because snakes see Because you can’t hear it, the performance becomes symbolic, especially thanks to the snakes, even in pop culture, like the epic Britney tribute in Grimes’ “Genesis” music video and Kaley Cuoco’s lip sync battle. It is referenced. Even Spears, despite her anxiety, tweeted about Python 11 years later, dating it back to “banana,” and continued to have nostalgic memories of her groundbreaking performance. (Hano doesn’t know where the Monica came from. Banana was unknown at the time as it became known as the female python for the rest of this article, “he said. At first, Hano himself didn’t understand how important performance was. He was excited to work at the Metropolitan Opera House by singing with a children’s choir at the Metropolitan Opera House from 1976 to 1978 and sharing the stage with Luciano Pavarotti at a concert aired in 1977. I wasn’t familiar with modern times. It was pop music and I didn’t even know that Spears was a major superstar. But when he returned home with a banana that night after the 2001 VMA ended, he soon realized he was part of the history of MTV. “I actually got on the subway on the night of work-how do I park there? -So I just put a snake in the cooler box,” Hano confesses. “And after doing that job, I took the train home … I left the station and entered my building 30 minutes later, and all these kids leaned forward to me. Buildings hanging in. And they all knew me. They knew I had a lot of animals, so they saw me coming and said, “Hey. Did you see that VMA’s stuff with Britney Spears? She had a snake! ”The whole neighborhood already knew this. And I’m telling them, “Yes, I just did the job. I put a snake on the shoulder of this cooler.” They didn’t believe me … and I In fact they took out the snakes to check out. They couldn’t believe it. Hano, who was just a Wrangler, not the actual owner of the snake, says that as of last year, the original banana was still alive and lived “somewhere in northern New York.” Get up there in a few years. ” However, he and the snake collaborated again in fashion photography about six to seven years after Spears’ performance. At that time, he was shocked to see how big Python was. “The snake was much bigger [and heavier] Since 2001, the owner hasn’t admitted it to me, and when I picked up a snake on my way to work and noticed how big it was, it was too late to look for another. “Hano recalls. “Fortunately, in this job, the model was completely covered with greasy black body paint, which was also unknown, so instead of hanging the snake on the body, the pipe structure behind it. For Spears, who has been in Las Vegas since January 2019 and has been “indefinitely suspended from work,” she may never be on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her last VMA performance was in 2016. At that time, its appearance was actually hyped by a promotion starring a sly banana look-alike. However, Hano hopes Spears will succeed in the ongoing power of attorney battle and praises her talent, all about #FreeBritney. “I have no thoughts or feelings about her professional or entertainment career,” says Hano. “But I think she’s already done so much. I hope she can overcome it and enjoy life. She worked hard and had a lot of success, and She deserves to enjoy it. And if she works again, I hope it’s because she wants to do it, not for someone else or for money. She wants to do it. You should be able to do anything. “Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Rose McGowan looks back at the scandalous see-through VMA dress:” I never really dealt with the shame of the global media. “Nirvana’s manager Kurt Two of the most controversial VMA moments reminiscent of Cobain / Axl Rose’s VMA feud: “If Kurt was alive today they would be friends” Recalling Garbage’s “Push It”, the history of VMA Follow Lindsey on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, Spotify.