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Justin Timberlake\u2019s viral arrest in 2024 has returned to public consciousness as the pop star lawyered up to keep New York officials from releasing footage from the incident. <\/p>\n
Attorneys for \u201cMirrors\u201d and \u201cCan\u2019t Stop the Feeling!\u201d star Timberlake, 45, on Monday filed a lawsuit against the Village of Sag Harbor, the Sag Harbor Police Department and its chief of police. The complaint, filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court, alleges that the police department\u2019s intention to release police body camera footage from the singer\u2019s arrest in June 2024 \u201cconstitutes an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy\u201d and would \u201ccause severe and irreparable harm\u201d to the singer\u2019s \u201cpersonal and professional reputation.\u201d <\/p>\n
The lawsuit said the footage shows Timberlake \u201cin an acutely vulnerable state\u201d and includes sensitive information, including familial and medical details. <\/p>\n
Representatives for singer-actor Timberlake did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. The Sag Harbor Police Department and the Sag Harbor Mayor Thomas Gardella also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n
Timberlake was arrested and charged<\/a> on June 18, 2024, on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Police alleged at the time that the \u201cCry Me a River\u201d singer failed to stop at a stop sign and stay in his lane while driving a 2025 BMW in the affluent seaside village. Police said the officer who stopped Timberlake determined the singer was intoxicated. Officials also noted at the time that the \u201cSexyBack\u201d pop star had \u201cbloodshot and glassy\u201d eyes, was unable to divide his attention, had slowed speech and \u201cperformed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests.\u201d<\/p>\n The NSYNC frontman, amid his Forget Tomorrow world tour, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of impaired driving, had his driving privileges suspended and was sentenced in September<\/a> to 25 hours of community service at a nonprofit of his choosing. He was also required to pay a $500 fine with a $260 surcharge and to make a public safety announcement <\/a>about the dangers of impaired driving.<\/p>\n Timberlake\u2019s arrest went viral online in 2024, with his mugshot <\/a>and his alleged comment <\/a>about the scandal ruining \u201cthe world tour\u201d quickly becoming meme material<\/a>. <\/p>\n According to court documents, police notified Timberlake\u2019s legal counsel on Sunday that it intended to release the footage from the arrest. The singer\u2019s team swiftly responded by submitting a written objection, which the police verbally denied, according to the lawsuit. Police told Timberlake\u2019s team it intended to release the arrest video on Monday. <\/p>\n The footage, the lawsuit said, spans eight continuous hours, documenting Timberlake\u2019s initial stop, the officer\u2019s questioning, sobriety tests, the singer\u2019s arrest and hours of his confinement over several hours. This \u201cencroaches upon areas of [Timberlake\u2019s] life and emotional state that have no relevance at all to [the singer\u2019s] arrest,\u201d the complaint said. <\/p>\n In addition to potentially harming his reputation, release of the body-cam footage would \u201csubject [Timberlake] to public ridicule and harassment,\u201d the lawsuit said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe harm from public exposure \u2014 stigma, harassment, reputational injury, and the permanent loss of privacy \u2014 is immediate and irreparable,\u201d the complaint said.<\/p>\n Timberlake and his legal team requested in the complaint that the court block the release of the video. The Associated Press <\/a>reported that a Sag Harbor judge did not immediately rule on the complaint following a hearing on Monday, but requested the opposing parties \u201cconfer on a possible resolution and report back later in the week.\u201d<\/p>\n A year after his arrest, Timberlake said in late July 2025<\/a> that he powered through a \u201crelentlessly debilitating\u201d bout of Lyme disease<\/a> while on his world tour, which kicked off in April 2024. The early months of his tour were marred with various obstacles, including health-related cancellations, in addition to the arrest, which he did not directly address in his note to fans. <\/p>\n As he thanked supporters for their \u201cenergy and love\u201d and praised his tour crew, he said at the time, \u201cI honestly don\u2019t know what my future is onstage.\u201d He has not posted to his Instagram page since. <\/p>\n Times editorial library director <\/i>Cary Schneider <\/i>contributed to this report. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n