Though singer Justin Timberlake has yet to publicly address the allegations of drunk driving levied against him in Long Island, comments he made while on stage Friday might be our first clue on how he’s feeling about his recent Sag Harbor arrest.
Timberlake’s Forget Tomorrow tour kicked off in April, a globe-spanning set of shows intended to support his sixth studio album, March release Everything I Thought It Was. The album drop was arguably overshadowed by revelations about his 1999-2002 relationship with singer Britney Spears that she included in her memoir, The Woman in Me, including claims that he ended their relationship via text and responded negatively to the couple’s ultimately terminated pregnancy.
Though Spears’s book came out last October, Timberlake still hasn’t addressed its claims directly. However, many viewed his remarks at a pre-tour concert in January as an allusion to the controversy. “I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to absolutely fucking nobody,” he said during a January 31 show at New York City’s Irving Plaza. He then launched into “Cry Me a River,” a song that Spears cited in her memoir as an effort to depict her as a “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy.”
A few months later, Timberlake’s tour began, plagued by slow ticket sales with prices slashed as low as $16, the New York Post reported in early June. Those ticket prices reportedly dropped even further in the days after his arrest for allegedly driving while intoxicated in Sag Harbor, New York, the Daily Mail reports, though folks would be wise not to confuse correlation with causation.
Timberlake, who faces one count of driving while intoxicated, one count of failure to stop at a stop sign, and failure to stay in a proper lane of travel following an arrest at 12:37 a.m on June 18, has also kept publicly mum regarding this latest mark on his record. His attorney, Edward Burke Jr., has done the talking for him, telling media that the singer “will have a lot to say at the appropriate time” but “is currently awaiting full discovery from the DA’s office.”
And while he waits, it’s back to the road. On Friday, he kicked off a two-night stand at Chicago’s United Center, where he appeared to obliquely address his arrest.
“We’ve been together through ups and downs, lefts and rights,” a smiling Justin Timberlake said in footage from the show posted to social media. “It’s been a tough week, but you’re here and I’m here, and nothing can change this moment right now.”
“I know sometimes I’m hard to love, but you keep on loving me and I love you right back,” he continued, then launched into “Selfish,” the first single from Everything I Thought It Was.
Timberlake will return to the United Center stage on Saturday, then head to Madison Square Garden in New York for two shows on June 25 and 26. As of publication time, tickets for both shows remain readily available.
