Justin Timberlake Breaks His Silence After Being Charged With Driving While Intoxicated

Just days after pop star Justin Timberlake’s arrest in the Hamptons, where he was charged with driving while intoxicated, he hopped on stage to perform a show in Chicago, his first public appearance since the arrest. Breaking his silence, Timberlake, 43, addressed the near 20,000-strong crowd.

“It’s been a tough week,” he admitted. His fans immediately responded with an uproarious cheer. “But you’re here, and I’m here, and nothing can change this moment right now.”

Timberlake finished his short speech with: “I know sometimes I’m hard to love, but you keep on loving me and I’m loving you right back.” He then went on to perform his song “Selfish,” asking the crowd to engage in a “sing-a-long” with him.

The Memphis-born musician is set to perform another show at The United Center on Saturday night in Chicago, before he arrives in New York City to perform at Madison Square Garden next weekend.

The 10-time Grammy winner was charged early Tuesday morning with driving while intoxicated in a village in the Hamptons, New York, after police said he ran a stop sign and veered out of his lane. At around 12:30 a.m., an officer stopped him and deduced he was intoxicated, according to the Associated Press

“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,” the court papers said, per the AP.

He was charged with a DWI misdemeanor, and his next court date has been scheduled for July 26, the Suffolk County district attorney’s office said.

In a statement emailed to TIME on Monday, June 24, Timberlake's lawyer Edward Burke Jr. said: "I look forward to vigorously defending Mr. Timberlake on these allegations. I will have a lot to say at the appropriate time, but am currently awaiting full discovery from the District Attorney’s office."

In March, Timberlake—who has been married to actor Jessica Biel since 2012—released his first new album in six years, the nostalgic Everything I Thought It Was. The dad-of-two began touring for the album on April 29, 2024, in Vancouver, Canada, calling it the “The Forget Tomorrow World Tour.” The tour spans more than 85 shows in at least 55 cities, according to Live Nation. The tour is now set to end on Dec. 20, 2024, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Timberlake’s court date in July coincides with a show in Krakow, Poland, during the international leg of the tour. 

The singer also made headlines last year after his ex-girlfriend Britney Spears released her memoir, The Woman in Me. The two stars dated for three years from 1999 to 2002 at the height of their fame. Spears’ memoir brought their notoriously messy and toxic breakup back into the limelight, as she claimed that Timberlake broke up with her over text, and that they were both unfaithful during the relationship.