Justin Timberlake charged with driving while intoxicated in New York’s Hamptons
Justin Timberlake was arrested early Tuesday in New York and accused of driving while intoxicated in the Hamptons.
The “Selfish” and “Cry Me a River” singer was arraigned Tuesday morning in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court, on the eastern end of Long Island, the Suffolk County district attorney’s office confirmed to The Times. He is accused of running a stop sign and veering out of his lane in the affluent seaside village, the Sag Harbor Police Department said.
In a statement to The Times, police said that around 12:30 a.m. local time the 43-year-old singer was driving a 2025 BMW south on Madison Street — one of the village’s main thoroughfares — and failed to stop at a stop sign and struggled to stay in his lane. An officer pulled him over and determined that he was intoxicated, police said.
“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 standardized field sobriety tests,” according to court papers obtained by The Times.
The Memphis, Tennessee-born musician, who catapulted to superstardom around the turn of the century as the lead singer of the boy band NSYNC, was arrested and held overnight before his arraignment around 9:30 a.m. local time. The “Can’t Stop the Feeling” singer was charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated and released on his own recognizance, meaning that there was no bail set. His next court date is set for July 26.
TMZ reported that the “Trolls” star was driving back from dinner at a hotel just after midnight and was pulled over almost immediately after taking the wheel.
The 10-time Grammy Award winner and two-time Emmy Award winner — who made headlines last year because of revelations about his past relationship with fellow pop star Britney Spears — has been mounting a comeback after his reputation repeatedly took hits because of his behavior toward women. In 2021, when Spears’ life and protracted conservatorship were examined in a series of documentaries, the “Mickey Mouse Club” alum issued a public apology to Spears and his 2004 Super Bowl co-headliner Janet Jackson for having “fell short” and for benefiting from “a system that condones misogyny and racism.”
The R&B and pop hitmaker, who broke off from NSYNC and debuted his solo album “Justified” in 2002, released his sixth studio album, “Everything I Thought It Was,” in March. He set off on his Forget Tomorrow world tour in April. The tour is due to hit Chicago on Friday and Saturday before Timberlake plays Madison Square Garden in New York City next Tuesday and Wednesday.
It is unclear when or if Timberlake will publicly address the DWI charge.