An old clip of Justin Timberlake has been cast in a different light following the pop singer's arrest.
ICYMI, overnight Timberlake was arrested on suspicion of intoxicated driving in the Hamptons area of Long Island. Despite claiming he only had "one martini", the NSYNC singer failed a sobriety test before refusing to do a breathalyzer examination.
The 43-year-old was seen by police driving through a stop sign and swerving on the road before he was arrested and detained for nine hours.
According to the criminal complaint, the 'Jealous' singer was "operating said vehicle in an intoxicated condition in that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath, he was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot, and he performed poorly on all standardised field sobriety tests."
The musician's mugshot has since traveled to every corner of the internet. It's all very 2000s.
Since the news broke, an old comment Timberlake made back in 2007 has gained traction on X.
In a speech accepting a Brit Award, fans assumed the singer made a cruel taunt towards ex, Britney Spears.
"Stop drinking! You know who you are," he said in the clip. "You are going to get sloppy. OK! magazine is going to say something bad about you." Woah, yikes.
Timberlake doesn't name Spears in the speech but his words came during a year when the pop star was arguably at the lowest point in her life. Back in 2007, Spears was charged with a hit-and-run and was ordered to turn over custody of her two children to ex-husband, Kevin Federline, after allegedly missing a drug and alcohol test.
At the time, Timberlake denied that the remark was directed at his ex, with his representation saying he was merely referencing "people in the crowd, no one in particular," as relayed to Fox News.
Hmm. Yeah, you're right, saying "I'm speaking to you," does sound super vague...
Following Justin's arrest, Britney's army of fans have hilariously campaigned to drive the singer's song 'Criminal' back up the charts.
Justin and Britney were the 'It Couple' in the late-90s and early-00s, dating between 1999 and 2002 after meeting as kids on the set of The Mickey Mouse Club.
In Spears' 2023 memoir The Woman in Me, she claimed that Timberlake repeatedly cheated on her and pressured her to get an abortion during their relationship.
Spears has since apologised on her Instagram for offending anyone with her memoir, adding that she loved Timberlake's latest single 'Jealous'. A few days later at a show in New York City, Timberlake said he'd "like to take this opportunity to apologise — to absolutely fu**ing nobody", before singing 'Cry Me A River'. Charming.
Timberlake is currently on tour for his 'The Forget Tomorrow World Tour' and is set to play two Chicago shows this week before playing Madison Square Garden in New York City next week.
In a report from Page Six, the tabloid site claimed that Timberlake moaned about his arrest affecting his upcoming shows, however, the officer who pulled Timberlake over "was so young that he didn’t even know" who he was.
An insider said that the 'Rock Your Body' singer said under his breath "This is going to ruin the tour."
To this, the cop replied, "What tour?"
Justin allegedly said back "The world tour.'"
Oh boy.
Feature image: Getty/YouTube.