Justin Timberlake Arrested for Drunken Driving in Sag Harbor
The singer and actor Justin Timberlake was arrested early Tuesday in Sag Harbor, N.Y., and arraigned on charges of driving while intoxicated, the police said.
Officials declined to provide further details about the arrest or the court appearance, why Mr. Timberlake was stopped or what kind of car he was driving.
Mr. Timberlake, who rose to pop stardom in the late 1990s as a teenage member of the boy band ’N Sync, was once among the most prominent male stars in American music. By 2002, Mr. Timberlake had embarked on a hugely successful solo career, working with cutting-edge pop and R&B producers like Timbaland and the Neptunes.
But his most recent solo album, “Everything I Thought It Was,” was met with criticism and weaker than usual sales when it was released in March, becoming his first solo release to miss No. 1 since “Justified” in 2002.
He is scheduled to perform at Madison Square Garden on June 25 and June 26.
In recent years, Mr. Timberlake’s behavior toward women in the early 2000s has also come under sharper scrutiny.
The public and media have re-examined his treatment of the singer and actress Britney Spears, whom he dated in the early 2000s, and whom he referenced in songs like “Cry Me a River.” He continued mocking her well after they broke up, making insinuations about her virginity during performances on Saturday Night Live and dismissive comments about her music.
He has also acknowledged his failure to defend Janet Jackson, who bore the brunt of the criticism for an infamous Super Bowl halftime performance in 2004, when he tore away part of her costume and revealed her breast.
The mishap, which became known as “the wardrobe malfunction,” came during the performance’s closing duet which ended with Mr. Timberlake singing “Bet I’ll have you naked by the end of this song.” Ms. Jackson was the subject of a severe backlash, while Mr. Timberlake’s career soared.
Mr. Timberlake has conceded that he should have taken more responsibility for what happened.
In an Instagram post in 2021, he apologized to both Ms. Jackson and Ms. Spears.
“I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right,” he wrote in a post that is no longer available. “I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually, because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed.”
Mr. Timberlake’s treatment of Ms. Spears came to light in a documentary, “Framing Britney Spears,” which premiered on Hulu and FX on Feb. 5, 2021.
A pair of documentaries in 2022 about Ms. Jackson — one produced by The New York Times and one released on A&E that Ms. Jackson authorized — addressed the Super Bowl performance and its painful aftermath.
In the A&E documentary, Ms. Jackson said that she and Mr. Timberlake remained friends and that she had encouraged him to stay silent after the Super Bowl performance to avoid “drama.”
“He and I have moved on and it’s time for everyone else to do the same,” she said.
Ben Sisario contributed reporting.
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