Justin Timberlake's court appearance has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.

A judge has chastised Justin Timberlake's lawyer for trying to "poison" the pop star's drink driving trial.

Timberlake, who is part-way through a world tour, appeared virtually from Antwerp, Belgium, dressed in a black button-up shirt. The look on his face said it all. 

Justice Carl Irace suspended Timberlake's licence due to his refusal to take a breathalyser test on June 18, when he was arrested for drunk driving. 

Answering "yes", to just two questions from Justice Irace, Timberlake pleaded not guilty to the charge, but otherwise remained silent.

The Zoom footage of Timberlake has since gone viral online.

BREAKING: Justin Timberlake has lost his license to drive following his DWI arrest. Today he pleaded Not Guilty and the judge threatened his lawyer with a gag order. pic.twitter.com/cuRq9QInBb

— Britney Stan 🌹 (@BritneyTheStan) August 2, 2024

Despite the singer's calm composure, his lawyer, Edward Burke Jr, was threatened with a gag order after the judge accused him of trying to "poison" the trial, citing comments Burke made to the media the previous week. 

Justice Irace said the comments came off "as an attempt to poison the case before it even begins".

As for what Burke had told media previously, he said Timberlake was "not intoxicated" at the time he was pulled over. 

Burke moved to dismiss the charges on procedural grounds because the arresting officer's supervisor didn't sign off on the original criminal complaint. 

"The police made a number of very significant errors in this case. You heard the District Attorney try to fix one of those errors, but that’s just one, and there are many others," Burke claimed.

"Sometimes the police, like every one of us, make mistakes. And that’s the case in this very instance."

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Burke also criticised the arresting officer, labelling him as "young" and "part time".

On Friday, Justice Irace noted that Burke didn't make those same claims inside the court prior to making his public comments. The judge offered two options in relation to Burke's motion to dismiss the charges — he could waive it, because the Suffolk County District Attorney had since submitted a new criminal complaint with the procedural errors fixed; or continue to challenge it.

If he chose the latter, the judge said he may force Timberlake to appear in person to be re-arrested. Burke withdrew the motion. 

"Think about the law … before making comments," Judge Irace warned Timberlake's lawyer.

Timberlake was arrested in Long Island in June on charges of driving while intoxicated, allegedly veering across the road through the Village of Sag Harbor in The Hamptons. 

Timberlake was pulled over after allegedly running a stop sign and swerving into the opposite lane. He was driving a 2025 BMW around 12:30am. The officer who stopped him determined he was under the influence, according to court documents sighted by CBS.

The singer was driving back from dinner at an upmarket restaurant when he was handcuffed and placed in police custody.

"His eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odour 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," read the court papers.

Despite his claim of having only one martini, Timberlake was arrested and taken to an East Hampton police station, where he refused to take a breath test. 

Later that morning, he was released on bail and charged with a misdemeanour for driving while intoxicated (the American equivalent of a DUI). 

The arresting officer's reports show Timberlake repeatedly refusing to take a breathalyser.

The report says that Timberlake muttered under his breath, "This is going to ruin the tour," upon his arrest. 

When the cop asked, "What tour?", Timberlake simply responded, "The World Tour..."

The case returns to court on August 9.

Image: Police/Getty.