Justin Timberlake Sues to Prevent ‘Severe and Irreparable Harm’ to His Reputation With Release of DWI Footage
Nearly two years after his 2024 DWI arrest, Justin Timberlake filed a petition to block the release of police body camera footage. He ultimately agreed to plead guilty to a lesser offense, though his lawyer maintains that he was not intoxicated at the time of his arrest. Now, Timberlake is pushing to keep the footage of his arrest private. His petition seeks to protect his reputation.
Justin Timberlake was arrested for a DWI in 2024
In June 2024, Sag Harbor police arrested Timberlake and charged him with one count of driving while intoxicated. They also cited him for failing to stop at a stop sign and driving outside the lines. Upon his arrest, Timberlake told officers that he only had one martini.
He ultimately agreed to plead guilty to the lesser offense of driving while impaired. Timberlake received a $500 fine, 25 hours of community service, and a 90-day suspension of his driver’s license. He also made a public service announcement about drinking and driving.
“Even if you’ve had one drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a car,” he said. “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.”
Justin Timberlake is suing to prevent the release of footage from his DWI arrest
Timberlake is now hoping to keep footage of his arrest away from the public.
“Public dissemination of this footage would cause severe and irreparable harm to [Timberlake’s] personal and professional reputation, subject [Timberlake] to public ridicule and harassment, and serve no legitimate public interest,” the petition read (per People).
His attorneys, Edward Burke Jr. and Michael J. Del Piano, say the footage would expose “intimate, highly personal, and sensitive details concerning [Timberlake] and his family, and includes information of medical, familial, otherwise confidential nature that is not necessary to inform the public about governmental operations or the performance of official duties.”
They requested an order that would prevent the release of the footage “in whole or in part.” They also requested that Timberlake and the court have the opportunity to “review the body-worn camera footage with proposed redactions to assess the privacy interests.”
He was reportedly in a ‘dark place’ ahead of his arrest
After Timberlake’s arrest, a source claimed that Timberlake had been drinking heavily, particularly after the release of Britney Spears’ 2023 memoir.
“It’s not a secret. Everyone knows,” a source claimed to Page Six. “He has a real drinking problem, a lot of weed — but a major alcohol problem, and he’s been hiding and masking it for years.”
The source accused the people around Timberlake of being “enablers.” They added that the stress of his tour put him in a “dark place.”
“It’s a real thing, and when you have a drinking problem, it’s apparent, yet they’ve pushed this tour on him, and he’s been in a very dark place,” the source said.
Despite this, another source said he was living a healthy lifestyle and had cut alcohol in preparation for his tour.
