Justin Timberlake is taking legal action to prevent the release of police body cam footage from his drunk driving arrest in 2024.
According to TMZ, Timberlake’s legal team filed a complaint Monday in Suffolk County Supreme Court in New York, arguing that the video of his June 18, 2024 arrest in Sag Harbor constitutes "an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."
Timberlake had initially resolved the case with a plea deal in September 2024, reducing the original DWI charge to a lesser traffic offense, and the Suffolk County District Attorney's office had agreed to seal the footage.
"The harm from public exposure—stigma, harassment, reputational injury, and the permanent loss of privacy—is immediate and irreparable," Timberlake's attorneys said in the documents, filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court, according to NBC News.
Despite that, media outlets are reportedly still trying to acquire the footage, with Timberlake trying to keep it from public view.
Suffolk County Acting Supreme Court Justice Joseph Farneti delayed issuing a ruling to allow both sides time to negotiate, according to Vincent Toomey, an attorney for the Village of Sag Harbor. “Mr. Timberlake sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent the Village from doing so," Toomey said, per NBC.
Timberlake's arrest inspired memes mocking the incident based on the alleged exchange with the arresting officer, in which Timberlake reportedly said the arrest would “ruin the tour,” to which the officer asked, “What tour?” Timberlake replied, “The world tour.”
The former NSYNC singer was referencing his The Forget Tomorrow World Tour, his first global tour in five years.