After pictures of Spears and Trawick carrying replica guns on set surfaced online, the Hackney London Borough Council criticized her for "promoting gun violence", since the area had been badly affected by the 2011 England riots. The Council told "London Tonight" that they had not agreed to the use of replica guns at Stoke Newington Town Hall, and that they would be raising the matter with the production company. Councillor Ian Rathbone added that Spears should apologize and make a sizeable donation to a Hackney charity "for the rudeness and damage she's done to this community." When asked if she thought the council was overreacting, Hackney MP Diane Abbott insisted: "It is only a music video but it's images like this, with popstars glamorising gangs, which means that some young people... get drawn in. Britney should really know better." Rae Alexandra of the "SF Weekly" explained that the United Kingdom "is not a place that readily embraces guns. Rather, it's a place where guns are rare, gun licensing is tightly controlled, and the entire establishment has been in a panic about gun use on its streets for the last three years." On September 26, 2011, Spears' representatives released a statement to MTV News saying, "The video is a fantasy story featuring Britney's boyfriend, Jason Trawick, which literally plays out the lyrics of a song written three years before the riots ever happened." Marrs Piliero stated about the controversy,