Has the tide turned against Justin Timberlake? The former boy bander has somehow managed to remain universally beloved for years, but in recent months we’ve seen cracks in Timberlake’s pristine public image.
First, it was his tone-deaf tweeting after facing criticism on social media for appropriating black music and culture last month, and now fans are openly slapping him in public. It’s like we’ve traveled back to 2003 where we left Timberlake crying to his mom on the phone after a particularly successful “Punk’d” episode. ‘Tis the season of Timberlake schadenfreude?
In a video shared by TMZ, Timberlake, flanked by a team of security guards, is seen walking through a crowd of onlookers at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe only to be slapped in the face by a fan.
“Why would you do that?” he says in the video, turning back to the slapper in the video before pressing on through the crowd.
According to TMZ, Timberlake did not press charges, but when authorities approached the man in question he became belligerent and refused to leave the premises. The man claimed he only aimed to “touch” Timberlake (same), not to slap him, but was arrested for disorderly conduct after the incident anyway.
Later in the day, Timberlake seemed unfazed by the altercation, putting on a show for fans with basketball superstar Steph Curry and “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” actor Alfonso Ribeiro. The trio treated everybody to “The Carlton,” a dance made famous by Ribeiro’s sitcom character, and the crowd went wild.
Ugh, we just can’t stop the feeling. Kudos, Timberlake.
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