Justin Timberlake really does not want anyone to see his DWI arrest.
The Grammy-winning pop star, 43, was arrested in the Sag Harbor village of Long Island in June 2024 for driving while intoxicated. According to arresting officers, Timberlake told them when he was pulled over, “I had one martini, and I followed my friends home.” He later admitted in court that he had been drinking more when he was pulled over.
According to the charging documents, Timberlake was driving in an “intoxicated condition in that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath.” The complaint added that “he was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot, and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests.”
And now, the public may get to see the interaction on tape, unless his lawyers can stop it.
A lawyer for the Village of Sag Harbor told NBC News on Monday that it intended to release the video with “certain” redactions in response to requests from several media outlets.
“The harm from public exposure—stigma, harassment, reputational injury, and the permanent loss of privacy is immediate and irreparable,” Timberlake’s lawyers argued in court documents obtained by MS NOW.
Under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, body camera footage can be made available to the public upon request. Timberlake’s arrest was not “any law enforcement action of public concern,” his lawyers said, as they try to persuade the courts to grant him an exception.
“The body-cam footage captures approximately eight hours of continuous recording and encroaches upon areas of Petitioner’s life and emotional state that have no relevance at all to Petitioner’s arrest,” the filing also says.
Timberlake’s attorney told E! News in a statement on Tuesday, “Mr. Timberlake sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent the Village from doing so,” and “the Court took no formal action on the matter yesterday in order to allow the parties to confer on a potential resolution of the matter and for the Village to respond to the lawsuit.”
Timberlake served nine hours in jail following his arrest. As penance for refusing a breathalyzer, his New York license was suspended, and he was ordered to pay a $500 fine, do 25-40 hours of community service, and make a PSA about drunk driving. He pleaded guilty to the charges in September 2024.
Timberlake’s comment that his arrest would “ruin the tour,” as noted by authorities, became a running internet joke that summer. The star was ultimately able to continue his Forget Tomorrow World Tour without a hitch afterward.
Less than a month after his arrest, he partnered with fellow DWI arrestee Tiger Woods to open a bar in Scotland.
Timberlake shares two kids, Silas, 10, and Phineas, 4, with his wife, actress Jessica Biel, 44.
