Justin Timberlake addressed the media on Friday shortly after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of drunk driving in his Hamptons DWI case.
The pop star, who was on tour after being pulled over by police in June, was sentenced to 25 hours of community service at a nonprofit of his choice, a $500 fine with a $260 surcharge and a requirement that he make a public safety announcement about the dangers of drunk driving.
He was arrested in June after he allegedly failed to stop at a stop sign or stay in his lane while leaving dinner at the American Hotel after midnight. After refusing to submit to a breathalyzer test three times, he was automatically arrested and held overnight in jail. In August, his driver's license was suspended.
Outside the courthouse, Timberlake began with a short public service message: “I want to tell everyone listening, even if you’ve had one drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a car. There are plenty of alternatives.”
Timberlake’s attorney, Edward Burke Jr., was the first to address the media, noting that “the evidence revealed that my client drank the contents of one drink in two hours at the American Hotel and, contrary to what was reported, he was not drinking other people’s drinks nor had he been warned in advance not to drive. He was not rude, he was not obnoxious, he was not belligerent. In fact, he was polite, cooperative and respectful throughout his encounter with law enforcement, as they were with him.”
He also highlighted the fact that driving under the influence of alcohol, unlike drunk driving, is a non-criminal charge.
Justin Timberlake speaks to the assembled media after a court hearing Friday regarding his DUI arrest in June in Sag Harbor, New York.
(Pamela Smith/Associated Press)
And while Burke, whose office is in Sag Harbor, went out of his way to thank nearly every police department and court in Suffolk County, Timberlake was serious and self-deprecating when he spoke.
“A lot of you have probably been following me for a lot of my life,” the singer, actor and entrepreneur said, “and as you know, I try to hold myself to a very high standard, for myself. And this wasn’t the case. This wasn’t the case.”
He said he had been raised in a small town and understood the stress his situation had placed on the people of Sag Harbor.
He then went on to thank everyone involved in solving the case, adding: “I'm very grateful and thank you, and in closing, I'd like to say that we can all be safer and I'm going to do my part. I hope everyone else does their part.”
In court, he told the judge: “I should have known better. I understand the gravity of this.”
In the arrest report, an officer said of Timberlake: “His eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odor of alcoholic beverages emanated from his breath, he was unable to divide his attention, his speech was slowed, his gait was unsteady and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests,” according to court documents obtained by The Times.
Page Six, citing anonymous sources, reported in June that the cop who arrested the singer “was so young he didn’t even know” who the 10-time Grammy winner was. Another source told the outlet that when he was pulled over, “Justin quietly said, ‘This is going to ruin the tour.’ The cop replied, ‘What tour?’ Justin said, ‘The world tour.’” The comment went viral and, along with Timberlake’s mugshot, instantly became a meme.
The singer's Forget Tomorrow World Tour resumes with a show on September 28 in Newark, New Jersey, and continues through June 2025.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
