Months after being arrested for drunk driving, pop star Justin Timberlake has plead guilty and received his sentence.
Timberlake, 43, was arrested shortly after midnight on June 18 in Sag Harbor, New York for driving while intoxicated. An officer pulled him over after he ran a stop sign and veered out of his lane.
Timberlake appeared to be drunk, with the officer reporting that his “eyes were bloodshot and glassy” and had a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” on his breath. While the singer claimed he only had one martini, he failed field sobriety tests and refused to take a sobriety test.
The former NSYNC member originally pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated. But appearing in Sag Harbor Village Court today, Timberlake took a plea deal to resolve the criminal case, pleading guilty to impaired driving.
Timberlake was sentenced to a $500 fine with a $260 surcharge. Judge Carl Irace reportedly expressed disappointment with the deal, and added on a further sentence of 25 hours of community service at the nonprofit of his choosing.
The singer’s lawyer maintained that he only had one martini, that reports of him drinking other people’s drinks were untrue, and that the sentence was consistent with the facts of the case.
Speaking to the press after his sentencing, Timberlake expressed remorse for his actions. “I try to hold myself to a very high standard, and this was not that,” he told the press outside the courthouse.
“Even if you’ve had one drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a car,” he said, urging people to take an Uber or taxi instead. “This is a mistake that I made, but I’m hoping that whoever is watching and listening right now can learn from this mistake. I know that I certainly have,” he continued, saying he was “grateful for the opportunity to move forward.”
The sentencing resolves what has been an embarrassing and widely-publicized scandal for Timberlake, who has been one of his generation’s best-selling and most awarded pop stars. Originally finding fame as a member of the boy band NSYNC, Timberlake has had major worldwide success as a Grammy-winning solo artist.
But the drunk driving arrest put a major dent in his reputation that will be hard to repair. He was widely criticized for his decision to drive while intoxicated, especially as someone of his status and wealth who could easily have arranged for a ride.
An exchange between Timberlake and his arresting officer, who apparently did not recognize the pop star, was widely mocked and became an internet meme:
“Justin said under his breath, ‘This is going to ruin the tour,’” a source told Page Six. “The cop replied, ‘What tour’, Justin said, ‘The world tour.’”
Despite his legal troubles and fears that the arrest would “ruin the tour,” Timberlake is currently on a world tour, with upcoming concert dates in New Jersey and NYC.
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