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Justin Timberlake: ‘Get Out and Vote, But Don’t Take a Picture of Yourself in There’

2 minute read

Justin Timberlake made headlines on Tuesday when he hit the voting booths in his home state of Tennessee early and took a selfie of himself performing his civic duty for Instagram.

Although the gesture was intended to encourage his fans to vote, a spokesman for the Shelby County District Attorney’s office in Memphis quickly informed the public that the move was “a possible violation of state election law” that would potentially result in a 30-day jail sentence, a fine of up to $50 or both. (A new Tennessee law does allow voters to use their mobile devices at polling stations for informational purposes when deciding how to vote, but it prohibits using them to record to capture photos.)

The Shelby County DA later tweeted that Timberlake wasn’t under review, but that didn’t stop JT from warning his fans not to take pictures while hitting the polls.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Wednesday, Timberlake told his BFF and “History of Rap” partner-in-crime Jimmy Fallon that he had been unaware of the law until his fans informed him.

“I went back home to Tennessee and voted and no one even know,” he told Fallon jokingly. “Get out and vote, but, uh, don’t take a picture of yourself in there. I had no idea! I was like, this is going to be great. Inspire people to vote! Then it was like, womp womp womp.”

Watch the full clip above.

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Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com