Justin Timberlake pleads guilty to lesser charge in DWI case

Justin Timberlake speaks out after pleading guilty to lesser charge in his DWI case

Justin Timberlake puts his open hand to his chest as he speaks outside a courthouse.

By Christie D’ZurillaAssistant Editor, Fast Break Desk

Sept. 13, 2024 11:36 AM PT

Justin Timberlake addressed the media on Friday soon after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of impaired driving in his Hamptons DWI case.

The pop star, who has been on tour after being stopped by police in June, was sentenced to 25 hours of community service at a nonprofit of his choosing, a $500 fine with $260 surcharge and the requirement that he make a public safety announcement about the dangers of impaired driving.

He was arrested back in June after allegedly failing to stop at a stop sign or stay in his lane as he left a dinner at the American Hotel after midnight. After refusing to take a breath test three times, he was automatically arrested and held overnight in jail. In August, his driving privileges were suspended.

Outside the courthouse, Timberlake started with a bit of a PSA: “I’d like to say to everyone listening, even if you’ve had one drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a car. There’s so many alternatives.”

Timberlake‘s attorney Edward Burke Jr. had addressed the media first, noting that “the evidence revealed that my client finished the contents of one drink in two hours at the American Hotel and contrary to what was reported, he wasn’t drinking other people’s drinks or warned in advance not to drive. He wasn’t rude, he wasn’t obnoxious, he wasn’t belligerent. In fact, he was polite and he was cooperative and he was respectful during his entire encounter with law enforcement, as they were to him.”

He also emphasized the fact that impaired driving, in contrast to driving while intoxicated, is a non-criminal charge.

Justin Timberlake speaks to a large group of reporters and photographers outside a courthouse.

And while Burke, whose office is in Sag Harbor, went out of his way to thank almost every part of Suffolk County law enforcement and the courts, Timberlake was serious and self-critical when he spoke.

“Many of you have probably been covering me for a lot of my life,” the singer-actor-businessman said, “and as you may know, I try to hold myself to a very high standard, for myself. And this was not that. This was not that.”

He said that he had been raised in a small town and understood the strain his situation had placed on the people of Sag Harbor.

Then he too thanked everyone involved in the resolution of the case, adding, “I’m very grateful and I thank them and I guess in closing I’d like to say, we can all be more safe out there and I’m gonna do my part. I hope that everyone else does their part.”

In court, he told the judge, “I should’ve had better judgment. I understand the seriousness of this.”

In the arrest report, an officer said of Timberlake, “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.

Page Six, citing anonymous sources, reported in June that the police officer who arrested the singer “was so young that he didn’t even know” who the 10-time Grammy winner was. Another source told the outlet that when he was pulled over, “Justin said under his breath, ‘This is going to ruin the tour.’ The cop replied, ‘What tour?’ Justin said, ‘The world tour.’” The remark went viral and, along with Timberlake’s mugshot, instantly became a meme.

The singer’s Forget Tomorrow world tour picks up again with a Sept. 28 show in Newark, N.J., and continues through June 2025.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.