Justin Timberlake was arrested in New York last night. According to multiple media outlets, JT was pulled over in the Hamptons and reportedly will be booked today on DWI charges. According to TMZ, at the time of this writing, he’s actually still in custody (9am ET). So they’ve held him for almost 9 hours now, and apparently he’ll be arraigned at some point today and Page Six is saying that he’ll be in court.
So… mugshot incoming. Britney Spears never had a mugshot. And I know that’s a petty f-ck thing to say but, you know what? This man, if TMZ, Page Six, ABC News, CBS News etc are to be believed, was drinking and driving. Which means he could have seriously hurt someone, endangering the public, because he thought he could take his own ass home after throwing back a few at the bar. Petty is the least of our problems right now. There’s no excuse for it for anyone, but there’s especially no excuse for it when we’re dealing with someone who’s this wealthy and has security and drivers and all kinds of staff who can transport him from here to there and doesn't have to worry about cab fare or whatever.
It's interesting, though, because I wonder if there’s already some spin being put in play. Note the wording in TMZ’s post:
“Our sources say Justin went to meet friends at a hotel Monday night in Sag Harbor for dinner -- and around 12:30 AM, we're told he got into his car to drive back to where he was staying ... only to be pulled over almost immediately after he took the wheel. In any case ... someone connected to Justin tells TMZ it involved some sort of traffic violation, but police tell us they don't take people into custody for garden variety traffic offenses.”
“Someone connected to Justin tells TMZ it involved some sort of traffic violation” ….suggests that “someone connected to JT” was either trying to downplay or conceal the real reason behind his arrest.
And then there’s PEOPLE’s coverage of the situation:
“While police did not confirm charges to PEOPLE, a source says that the "Selfish" hitmaker was arrested on DWI charges after having dinner at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor. He was pulled over after leaving the establishment to drive to his friend's house.
"Nobody was hurt," the source says. "He will be arraigned in about an hour."
“Nobody was hurt”, THANKFULLY. But are we saying that, you know, everybody needs to calm down because nobody was hurt? He’s fortunate that nobody was hurt. But IF he was indeed drinking and driving, that is a crime in and of itself. It’s a crime because those who commit it can very seriously hurt people. Just because nobody was hurt might lessen the harm for others but it shouldn’t lessen the disappointment, or the accountability for the person who drank and drove.
So it will be interesting to see how JT and his team handle this going forward, what approach they decide to take. Because, well, this is not a celebrity who’s been great at owning his mistakes. With a mistake like this one, however, when you become a threat to public safety, there’s no multiple choice strategy in how to address it, although Reese Witherspoon said “do you know who I am” to a cop and it didn't stick. Do you think JT played that card? Maybe that's why they kept his ass in jail over night. Don't drink and drive!
Here's JT performing the other night in Miami.
