Justin Timberlake petitions court to block release of drunk driving arrest body-cam video

The “SexyBack” singer was arrested on a DWI charge in 2024 and later pleaded guilty to a less serious offense in order to resolve the case.

Though seemingly resolved months after it began in 2024, Justin Timberlake‘s driving-while-intoxicated saga rages on.

The “SexyBack” singer is seeking to block the release of police body-camera footage of his 2024 arrest in Sag Harbor, N.Y., citing concern that it would damage his reputation, subject him to personal harm, and constitute an invasion of privacy.

Timberlake’s attorneys, Edward Burke Jr. and Michael J. Del Piano, filed the petition reviewed by Entertainment Weekly in Suffolk County Supreme Court on Monday. The documents note that video capturing Timberlake’s initial interaction with police, subsequent arrest, and time spent at a Sag Harbor police station has been sought by a number of individuals and entities via Freedom of Information Law requests.

But the petition requests that the court withhold the videos entirely, or that they at least be “redacted to the maximum extent permitted by law.”

“Disclosure of these materials would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” Timberlake’s lawyers argue in the petition. Because some of the video captures footage inside Timberlake’s car, as well as inside the police station, their release would “serve primarily to invade privacy and cause unwarranted embarrassment,” not to mention “inform the public about governmental operations or the performance of official duties.”

The petition further claims that publication of the videos would “cause economic and personal hardship and substantial injury” by exposing Timberlake to potential “public ridicule and harassment.” This would constitute at the very least “severe and irreparable harm” to the former NSYNC star’s “professional reputation.”

Timberlake was arrested just after midnight on June 18, 2024, in the Sag Harbor neighborhood of the Hamptons, a group of affluent communities located on the Eastern tip of Long Island.

He was charged with one count of driving while intoxicated and given two citations, one for running a stop sign and the other for failing to keep within his lane. The musician had his license suspended, as Burke Jr. insisted that his client “was not intoxicated.”

That September, Timberlake maintained his innocence on the misdemeanor DWI charge, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. During a press conference, he urged, “Even if you’ve had one drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a car… This is a mistake I made, but I hope whoever’s watching and listening right now can learn from this mistake. I certainly have.”