Britney Spears to have cameo in "Glee"

Singer Britney Spears performs on ABC's ''Good Morning America'' in New York on December 2, 2008.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Britney Spears is set to play a cameo role in an episode of TV musical comedy "Glee" that will be devoted to the pop star's music, the show's creator Ryan Murphy said on Tuesday.

But the episode in the upcoming second season of the hit television show will not poke fun at the former pop princess and her meltdown three years ago, Murphy said.

"Britney, I think 100 percent, is going to be on the episode. She is going to join us for a couple of scenes," Murphy said in an interview with Los Angeles DJ Ryan Seacrest.

Murphy did not say what character Spears, 28, would play in the episode, which he described as "reverential...and so kind...We are handling Britney with kid gloves".

The Britney Spears-themed episode follows "Glee" tributes to the music of Madonna and Lady Gaga earlier this year, although neither of the pop singers appeared in the show.

Murphy said the music of Spears -- who became a worldwide phenomenon 10 years ago with hits like "Oops..I Did it Again" -- would play out as fantasy sequences. Some of the "Glee" high school show choir characters will be in the dentist's chair and will hallucinate about being like the singer.

Spears, whose life spiraled out of control in 2007 and 2008 after a short-lived marriage and two children, made her comeback with the 2008 album "Circus" and a successful world tour. She has since adopted a much lower public profile.

"I really admire what she's done with her life and how she's turned herself around," Murphy said. "Britney Spears is pop culture, and I think she's been through a lot."

"Glee" features a misfit bunch of high school kids in a choir show that sings versions of pop, hip-hop and Broadway songs. It has been nominated for 19 Emmy awards and returns to U.S. television in September. No date has yet been announced for the Britney Spears episode.

Murphy also sought to quash widespread rumors that he is working on a Michael Jackson-themed episode in February that will be broadcast immediately after the 2011 Super Bowl -- the biggest annual TV event in the United States.

He told Seacrest he would like to do a Jackson episode, but said "I don't have the rights to that, and at this point it is really hard to clear Michael Jackson music." Rights to Jackson's work and image are strictly controlled by the executors of the late singer's estate.

Murphy said he would alternatively love to use the music of Prince or The Beatles for the post-Super Bowl episode.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)