Justin Timberlake hints at Britney Spears backlash during Las Vegas performance: ‘No disrespect’
Fontainebleau in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Justin Timberlake gave a forewarning before performing “Cry Me a River,” which is rumored to be about his ex-girlfriend Britney Spears.
“No disrespect,” he said, per a fan video posted on TikTok. Timberlake, who dated the pop star from 1999 to 2002, released the track the same year they broke up.
The music video for the song raised several eyebrows after an unfaithful woman in the video looked nearly identical to the “Toxic” songstress.
“You don’t have to say, what you did / I already know, I found out from him,” the “Sexy Back” hitmaker sings on the track.
In Spears’ bombshell memoir, “The Woman in Me,” she admitted to cheating on Timberlake, 42, “one time” with choreographer Wade Robson.
“We were out one night and we went to a Spanish bar. We danced and danced. I made out with him that night,” she wrote.
The “Gimmie More” singer, 42, said that Timberlake agreed to move past the infidelity after she spent years “loyal to Justin” and only having “eyes for him.”
But after the pair called it quits, Spears admitted her ex’s top charting song made her out to be a “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy.”
“I felt there was no way at the time to tell my side of the story,” Spears wrote in her book.
“I couldn’t explain, because I knew no one would take my side once Justin had convinced the world of his version. I don’t think Justin realized the power he had in shaming me. I don’t think he understands to this day.”
Spears also alleged Timberlake cheated on her several times with “another celebrity,” whose idenity she didn’t disclose.
The Grammy winner detailed her three year relationship with the “Mirrors” singer in her memoir, revealing she had an abortion. She alleged Timberlake “wasn’t happy about the pregnancy” and claimed they “were way too young” to have a baby.
“I’m sure people will hate me for this, but I agreed not to have the baby. I don’t know if that was the right decision. If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father,” she wrote.
Timberlake rushed off to Mexico with his wife, Jessica Biel, and their sons Silas, 8, and Phineas, 2, last month following the backlash he received from Spears’ book.
Despite his Instagram comments still being partially disabled to fend off the haters, he’s slowly brushing off the critics and making his way back into the spotlight.
