“Britney Spears will not be performing at the VMAs this year. I’m telling you officially and unequivocally,” Ryan Seacrest quoted her manager, Larry Rudolph, as saying on his KIIS-FM radio show Monday morning.

Rudolph told Seacrest that Spears “is in the middle of recording her next album, which is going amazingly well, and was never supposed to perform at that show.”

The possibility of Spears performing had been rumored for weeks. (Her hair stylist Kim Vo even told E! News that he was creating three VMA looks for the singer, hinting that one of the ‘dos was for her performance.)

The singer is still involved in the show in some capacity, however.

She is appearing alongside host Russell Brand in cheeky TV spots promoting the September 7 show.

She is also up for three VMAs — including “Video of the Year” — for her song “Piece of Me.”

Spears has never won a “Moonman,” despite being nominated 17 times.

Last year, she raised eyebrows after her rocky opening performance of “Gimme More.” The New York Times called her “awful,” writing that she “tottered around the stage, dancing tentatively and doing nothing that sounded or looked like real live singing.”

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