Britney Spears' handlers are livid after watching the stars of Glee ridicule the pop star's public meltdown just minutes after her latest appearance on The X Factor on Thursday night.

The latest Glee episode was billed as a second tribute to the Toxic hitmaker - but instead of just reworking the singer's hits on the show, creator Ryan Murphy and his writers recreated Spears' 2008 breakdown, even filming a scene in which Heather Morris' character, Brittany S. Pierce, attacks a high school journalist with an umbrella, and another where she lip syncs and appears distant and out-of-step during a performance.

The real Britney attacked paparazzi with an umbrella as they hounded her following a head-shaving incident - something else that was referenced on Glee - and Spears was savaged for an ill-conceived 2007 performance of Gimme More at the MTV Video Music Awards, where she appeared to be more than a little out of sorts.

Ironically, the latest Glee episode aired directly after Spears' The X Factor show - on the same channel.

Calling the drama a "low blow" during his Access Hollywood Live show on Friday morning, TV personality Billy Bush revealed he had been in touch with Spears' longtime manager Larry Rudolph, who revealed he had not seen or heard about the episode before it aired on the Fox channel.

Bush said, "I can tell you that Britney's manager, Larry, is livid. He's not happy." (KL/WNVACC/MC)