Britney in Furs

You know, maybe there is something to all this "Leave Britney alone" hoopla. Given her recent trip to the psych ward, it's becoming more and more clear that she's not entirely accountable for her actions—and that includes her poor fashion choices just as much as it does her bad parenting decisions.

With that in mind, we've decided to give Britney a bit of a break this year, and take her off the Worst-Dressed-List poll, despite the fact that she had established herself as a strong front-runner in the first two days of voting. Here's what PETA Vice President Dan Mathews had to say about the decision:

"People with l'il kids shouldn't dress like L'il Kim. But at this point, Britney needs a break—from everybody. Maybe when her head is clear, she'll have a change of heart about wearing fur. If not, we'll be back biting at her heels."

So there you have it, but the question is, did we make the right choice in giving Brit a break this year despite her unfortunate penchant for, um, flaunting her fur in public? Please feel free to comment with your thoughts.

For this year's Worst-Dressed competition (in which PETA calls out the very worst offenders among fur-wearing celebrities) we're doing things a little bit differently, and allowing the world to vote on who they think should make the list. Polls opened today, and Kate Moss and Britney Spears have jumped into an early lead—but in the fast-paced world of celeb gossip, all it takes is Cindy Crawford crawling out of her cave in a family of raccoons, or Sharon Stone flaunting her beaver in public again, and the whole face of the competition could change.

Remember, this isn't just about who's the ugliest (otherwise we'd just hand the prize to Kid Rock and move on) or the most brainless—this one's about which celebrity has been the most callous, heartless, unapologetic proponent of the horrific fur industry this year. So cast your vote now, and help us decide which cruel celebs have the most need of being publicly singled out and embarrassed in early February.

I should point out here that while I don't personally have any qualms about calling people out for promoting an industry that skins animals alive, there's a lot more to this list than that: You may remember that after last year's list was released, Christina Ricci publicly renounced fur and promised never to wear it again. And one previous winner, Martha Stewart, later went on to narrate an anti-fur video for us. We're extremely grateful to both of them, and hopefully this year's winners will be similarly inspired to change their minds.

So join the fun and cast your vote here. Not to unduly influence the competition or anything, but my own vote will be going to Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Takeo Spikes. Anyone who has the poor taste to play for a hated Washington Redskins rival and wear fur in his spare time deserves whatever's coming to him.