Justin Timberlake pauses New York show to salute Martin Scorsese: ‘I gotta do this’

Justin Timberlake took the opportunity to shout out Martin Scorsese when he spotted the Hollywood film director in the crowd of his performance at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night (26 June).

The 10-time Grammy winner, 43, who is currently on his The Forget Tomorrow World Tour, paused his show to salute the Killers of the Flower Moon director in the audience.

“I hope this doesn’t embarrass him too much, but I’m sorry, man, I gotta do this,” Timberlake said. “The GOAT came to see me, the one and only Martin Scorsese. So many family and friends, but I see some new faces, too.”

Scorsese stood to his feet and waved back at Timberlake while adjusting his glasses, before Timberlake launched into a cover of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York”.

The “Sexy Back” singer’s wife of 12 years, Jessica Biel, was also spotted in the crowd supporting her husband one week after the musician was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated in the Hamptons.

Returning to his tour last Friday night (21 June) for his first performance after the arrest, Timberlake told his fans in Chicago that 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 former NSYNC member told the crowd, as seen in videos shared on X/Twitter.

He continued: “I know sometimes I’m hard to love but you keep on loving me and I love you right back. Thank you so much.”

The singer’s speech was met with rapturous applause from fans, before he asked them to join him in a sing-a-long of his smash-hits: “Can’t Stop The Feeling”, “Señorita”, and “Cry Me River”.

On 18 June, Timberlake was arrested in the wealthy Hamptons enclave of Sag Harbor, Long Island. Photos showed Timberlake in handcuffs at a local police station before his mugshot was later released by Sag Harbor Police, in which the musician looked red-eyed and expressionless.

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.

Police told the outlet that Timberlake was at the American Hotel partying, after which he drove through a stop sign when he left the venue. The police started to follow him, and pulled him over when he started swerving. The singer told police that he was following his friends home.

Timberlake “performed poorly on all standardised field sobriety tests” and repeatedly refused to take a breathalyser, the complaint says. The pop star, however, claimed to have just consumed “one martini,” according to the complaint obtained by the New York Post.

On Wednesday (19 June), the singer’s attorney, Edward Burke Jr, released a statement, noting that he will soon speak out about Timberlake’s DWI charge.

The “Mirrors” musician is currently on the US leg of his tour, which is in promotion of his sixth studio album, Everything I Thought I Was. His first record in six years, the album was critically panned, with a two-star review in The Independent calling it “about as sexy as a soiled mattress”.