Hotel bartender says Justin Timberlake had one martini before DWI: ‘If he was drinking more, it wasn’t here’
A bartender at the Hamptons hotel where pop star Justin Timberlake was partying before his DWI arrest claims the singer had one drink before leaving.
The unidentified bartender at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor, New York, told People Magazine that Timberlake had one drink before he departed the hotel, where he was spending time with friends.’ The pop star claimed to have just consumed “one martini,” according to a complaint obtained by the New York Post.
Another employee also told People, “If he was drinking more, it wasn’t here.”
The 10-time Grammy winner, 43, was at the American Hotel before he left. According to a New York Post report, someone at the hotel called the cops as he was getting ready to leave afraid the singer was going to get behind the wheel.
“[They] said Justin was having a lot of drinks, and they told the cop to watch him if he is going to drive,” the unnamed person told the Post.
Timberlake was later arrested around 12:15 am on June 18 for driving while intoxicated, police said.
Timberlake broke his silence at a concert last week after his arrest made worldwide news, saying it had been a “tough week.”
“We’ve been together through ups and downs, lefts and rights. It’s been a tough week, but you’re here and I’m here, and nothing can change this moment right now,” the singer told his audience in Chicago, as seen in videos shared on X.
Timberlake blew through a stop sign in his 2025 BMW in Sag Harbor, which started his arrest. Cops began to follow him, and pulled him over after he started swerving. The singer told police he was following his friends home.
Timberlake “performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests” and repeatedly refused to take a breathalyzer, the complaint read.
Officers saw Timberlake with glassy eyes and smelled alcohol on his breath. “He was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot,” the complaint said.
Timberlake’s friends were near the arrest and pleaded with cops to let him loose, but officers refused, according to TMZ.
The New York Post reported that the unnamed arresting officer “was so young that he didn’t even know” who Timberlake was.
Timberlake, who rose to fame as one of the biggest pop stars of the 1990s and 2000s with his role in the boy band NSYNC before embarking on a successful solo career, appeared in a Long Island court on Tuesday and was released without bail, according to TMZ. He is reportedly due back in court on July 26.
