Justin Timberlake’s team hit back over worrying concert video

Justin Timberlake’s team have hit back over footage of the singer that’s circulated widely in the wake of his drunken driving arrest last week.

Justin Timberlake’s team have hit back over footage of the singer that’s circulated widely in the wake of his drunken driving arrest last week.

In the days following his arrest, footage circulated of Timberlake in the crowd at a show during his current tour. The 43-year-old looks worryingly tired and drawn, with wide, red-lidded eyes and a tense expression on his face.

Some claimed that the footage showed Timberlake at his first concert back following the arrest, but in fact, it was originally filmed and posted back in May, at one of his Las Vegas concerts.

And an unnamed source from Timberlake’s team has insisted to TMZ that the footage shows the star completely sober.

This clip of Timberlake ignited debate on social media …

… but his team insist he’s always 100% sober.

“We’re told he 100% was [sober], as he has been for every show,” TMZ reports.

“Our sources say JT is always focused and clear-headed at all his shows … there’s simply too much at stake in the performance.”

In fact, Timberlake made his post-arrest return to the stage at a concert in Chicago last Friday evening, and tackled his brush with the law head-on.

“It’s been a tough week,” Timberlake told the crowd. “I know I’m hard to love sometimes but you keep loving me right back.”

Meanwhile, Timberlake reportedly suffered the ultimate celeb indignity during his arrest: the young policeman who pulled him over failed to recognise him.

The New York Post reported that the cop in question, later identified as 24-year-old Officer Michael Arkinson, was “so young that he didn’t even know” who Timberlake was, even when told his name.

The star’s bleary-eyed mugshot after his arrest. Picture: Sag Harbor Police Department

The arrest came as Timberlake is in the midst of a world tour. Picture: AFP

“He didn’t recognise him or his name,” the insider claimed.

It’s also alleged that Timberlake’s first concerns during his arrest were about his current tour, which started in the US in April and will move to Europe next month.

It’s claimed Timberlake said under his breath, ‘This is going to ruin the tour.’ The policeman reportedly asked “What tour?”, to which the pop star replied “The world tour.”

Timberlake, 43, shot to fame in the late 90s as a member of the boy band N*Sync, parlaying it into massive solo success with a string of hit albums in the early noughties.

But his musical fortunes have certainly faded more recently: His latest studio album, this year’s Everything I Thought It Was, peaked at number four in the US before quickly falling off the charts.

Here in Australia, it debuted at number 23 - his first non-top-10 album here - before dropping like a stone.

Originally published as Justin Timberlake’s team hit back over worrying concert video