What’s the Snark on Justin Timberlake?

19:15Christy Noel:Well, especially now with Backstreet Boys at the Sphere in Vegas, the residency is popping off and it's bringing so many millennial fans into Vegas to see them and Backstreet Boys are making so much money. And I feel like NSYNC is like out here saying, Justin, are you going to come hang out with us now? Because look at Backstreet Boys making oodles and oodles of cash. He's so proud. I don't think Justin Timberlake will ever reunite with NSYNC because to this day, even with the success of Backstreet Boys 20 years later, he feels too proud. No, exactly. And millennial nostalgia is probably the only thing keeping Justin Timberlake somewhat relevant today.

19:50And even calling him somewhat relevant might be even a stretch, but like it's the millennial nostalgia. Like even his most recent tours, apparently it was a lot of NSYNC loving millennials that went and saw him, which is understandable. So his solo careers launched right after a split from Britney was announced. In 2002, he also briefly dates Jenna Dewan, Channing Tatum's ex-wife after his breakup with Britney. She had actually been a backup dancer for him. I don't remember that happening, but I do remember when he dated Alyssa Milano briefly in 2002.

20:24Christy Noel:From Charmed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So his solo album was a little bit more R &B. It was less pop, more R &B. The Cry Me a River music video, we all remember where we were. It featured a Britney lookalike and a cheating storyline, which obviously fueled a ton of gossip around their breakup. And in the music video, he's like spying on his girlfriend and then breaks into her house and films himself hooking up with another woman on her bed oh my god this music video is ingrained in my memory that and then the rain that video was one of the most creative cool sexy videos but also against breddie spears so um yeah strongly and i really quickly when we talk about justified i will be remiss to not bring up the fact that justin timberlake and Christina Aguilera went on tour together called Stripped Justified Tour.

21:26Christy Noel:Such a slap in the face if you're Britney Spears because at the time, Britney and Christina were beefing. Whether or not it was legitimate. Yeah, rivals. They were rivals. They were rivals, yeah. I mean, that was a very real thing back then. And the fact that he went on tour with Christina didn't want to help either of Christina or Justin's cases. Yes, that's a great shout out. There were a lot of things that Justin did over the years that were purely done out of spite to spite Britney. and it's just nefarious. But from Britney's side, she told Rolling Stone in 2011 about Cry Me a River. He called her up and was like, by the way, I did a music video and you're kind of, it's kind of about you.

22:04And it's kind of obvious that it's about you. Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal. And apparently she had the power to say no to the video. But instead she was like, hey, it's your video. Like whatever. I hadn't seen it. And then it came out and she was like, I should have freaking said no to this shit because she got a lot of hate. But she says it was a smart move on his end because he capitalized on shitting on Britney Spears and people loved to shit on Britney Spears at the time.

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26:57Christy Noel:We all know it's not a cookout without She was such a good sport, too, for her to say, well, he's smart for doing it. No, yeah. She always punches, dude. And, like, people are never fair to her. It's so sad. Even back then, she was so gracious about this. I know. It sucks. So he, Justin, like we said, would go on to host SNL. The first time he hosted was in October 2003, and he would go on to host five times. And like I said, he used to be like a superstar. People loved when he hosted SNL. He was really funny. He was good. He was really talented at acting. And some of his SNL skits to this day continue to be iconic and really famous.

27:42Also, the five-time host club is very small and exclusive. It's a big deal to be invited back that many times. So sorry to interrupt.

27:50Christy Noel:I was just going to say his acting career is highly underrated, kind of like what you said on top. Just a quick shout out to he has a movie called Palmer. It's an Apple TV movie. And I think I've talked about this before on the podcast. It genuinely is one of my favorite movies. And I know like I have bad taste in movies, but I'm telling you, it's about a man who just got out of prison. And he basically takes in this young boy who lives in a very abusive household and basically cares for him. It's like so heartwarming. And Justin Timberlake is like fantastic in it. He needs to explore his acting endeavors a little bit more, I think.

28:25I think he does because he also was in a Netflix movie called Reptile, which I also really liked. And that came out in 2023. I liked that movie a lot. That was a good movie. If you haven't seen Reptile on Netflix and he was, he was good at it. I think that maybe the music career is stuck in the mud, but I think there's some maybe potential there when acting. In 2003, he starts dating Cameron Diaz after meeting of the 2003 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, and they dated for four years. I don't know how I forgot about that. They were a power couple also at the time.

29:01Christy Noel:Well, also the age difference was, I think, pretty significant. Maybe at the time, I don't really know how far in age they really are, but I remember this being a huge deal, and they were very serious. Yeah, they were very serious. In 2004, the infamous Nipplegate Super Bowl halftime show with Janet Jackson happened, which we will get to shortly. His second album, Future Sex Love Sounds, is released in 2006. Who could forget Sexy back? Iconic. I'm sorry. It was iconic. This is also when he hosts SNL again and one of those iconic SNL sketches, Dick in a Box. Do you remember that? Of course. and also this year he starred in the film Alpha Dog.

29:47Christy Noel:Also one of my favorite movies. I'm telling you, he's in Oscar worthy films. Okay? I have not seen that one. Wait, what? I don't really trust your taste. No, Sophie, I am being so for real. Alpha Dog is based on a true story. It's based on true events. It's so, so good. You know the guy from The Girl Next Door? Remember that one? Oh, Emily Hirsch. Hirsch. Emile Hirsch. Yeah, yeah. Tease in it. Oh, my God. It's so good. Okay, I'm reading about this. I feel like I might need to. Wow. I might. Oh, this is really interesting. I might need to watch it. Maybe I do trust your taste. No, I'm telling you, Alpha Dog and Palmer, two of my favorite films.

30:29Christy Noel:Add it to the list. Okay. Add it to the list. Along with It Ends With Us. Oh, stop it. Stop it right now. By the way, speaking of Colleen Hoover, I feel like there's a new Colleen Hoover movie released, or like red carpet every single week now. I'm sorry. There's like her AI generated books. It's like every week. There's that one with Alison Williams and Dave Franco. And then there was like another one. There's the one with Anne Hathaway that's being filmed. There was one other one where they just had a red carpenter event. I'm like, oh my God. Wait, I'm dying. Her AI generated books. God, I'm so sick of it.

31:13Okay, sorry. Anyway, in 2010, he plays Sean Parker in The Social Network, one of my favorite movies. I love that movie. Remember when he says, drop the the, it's cleaner.

31:26Christy Noel:Add it to the list. And don't sleep on Dakota Johnson's scene in this. His first scene in that movie is when he is hooking up with Dakota Johnson. And that was like one of her first film roles. In October 2012, he marries Jessica Biel in Italy. Do you remember the People Magazine photo shoot when they got married? No, I don't remember that actually. She was wearing this pink wedding dress and literally he's jumping up in the photos like stealing her spotlight and everyone just like today is like, Jesus, he is so thirsty. You can't even let your wife have her moment of like regaling everyone with her dress and her Luke.

32:06Christy Noel:He had to jump into the photo. God, I know that's so typical of him. He's so annoying. So in 2013, his third album, the 2020 experience was released and Suit and Tie was a big hit. I don't know why Suit and Tie, whenever I hear that, reminds me of Luke Gunbleson from Summer House. Suit and tie, hair slicked back, drives me wild. Remember how Luke Gunbleson would play guitar and like sing? wait that's so fucking random dude but obviously that was a different song than as long as i got my suit and tie um so in 2015 he becomes a dad for the first time he has his first son silas with jessica biel he also made the song can't stop the feeling in 2016 for the trolls movie soundtrack.

32:57It debuted at number one on the Hot 100. That might be like, I'm sorry, that might be the worst song of all time.

33:03Christy Noel:It's such a corporate, like all hands meeting song. It's like Happy by Pharrell. Yes. Same, same. It almost should be identical songs. Yeah, honestly. It somehow got an Oscar nomination for best original song though. So there's that. And he also voiced one of the trolls in the movie. In 2018, he releases the Man of the Woods album and it gets mixed reviews due to mixing genres in a way that isn't quite successful. It's like R &B, pop, Americana. He's tapped to headline the Super Bowl halftime show that year. But yeah, the album did not get good reviews. It was called Lifeless and kind of was also a commercial flop too.

33:48Fun fact, my coworker at the time, shout out to Whitney, bought tickets for the Man of the Woods tour before the album came out. And it was just so funny because literally everyone hated that album. And she was like, why did I do that? Wait, that's so fucking funny. It was so funny.

34:05Christy Noel:I love that you guys were all trolling her at the office. Oh yeah. We were all trolling her at the office. It was the funniest thing ever. It's so funny. In 2019, paparazzi pictures caught him holding hands with actress Alicia. Wait, Alicia Wainwright, I think is her name. Alicia. Yes, it is Alicia Wainwright. Alicia Wainwright, his co-star in the movie. Speaking of the movie Palmer. I'm telling you, this movie is iconic for many more than one ways. They were holding hands, smiling and laughing. But witnesses also said that he was kind of wobbly and unsteady, unsteady and look to be like clearly inebriated.

34:48Not that that's like an excuse at all. But the photos went viral, obviously, and it kind of got for the most part brushed off. But he did make a public apology on Instagram to his wife and family and said, I apologize to my amazing wife and family for putting them through such an embarrassing situation. I'm focused on being the best husband and father I can be. He said it was a strong lapse in judgment and that nothing happened beyond drunkenly inappropriate behavior. He added he drank far too much and should have known better.

35:19Christy Noel:So can we talk about this? Yeah, because I remember when this came out and it was such a scandal because to my knowledge and from my recollection, there wasn't ever a cheating scandal having anything to do with Justin or Jessica. For all intents and purposes, they were in a very happy marriage. And I remember when this video came out and it was a pretty clear video. They were up on that balcony in New Orleans and they were noodling like crazy. And I remember just being so shocked, but I guess, and I'm not a blind item girl, but did you, do you recall, I think there were blind items about him always cheating on Jessica and they were kind of in this open relationship, which I honestly think a lot of celebrity couples really are.

35:58Christy Noel:They just don't make it public. It's more of this rule of don't embarrass me. And Justin clearly embarrassed the fuck out of Jessica by doing this so publicly with his co-star, no less. But what are your thoughts on them perhaps having an open marriage? Do you believe, do you think there's any like weight to that? I hadn't seen those blind items, but I mean, that wouldn't surprise me. Again, I feel like that's probably typical for a lot of these Hollywood marriages. First of all, like they are often long distance and someone will be on set. Someone will be home with the kids and then vice versa.

36:33And it just, it makes sense in a lot of ways. Not that, I don't know if I would be able to do it if that were my life, but I think it makes sense for a lot of these couples. And there's a reason why so many Hollywood couples are rumored to have open marriages. But again, there's always that rule of don't embarrass me. And as soon as that person embarrasses their spouse, then it becomes bad news if it becomes public.

36:56Christy Noel:And I haven't looked recently, but I remember when I tried to find a video of this canoodling scandal in New Orleans of the two of them, it was very hard to find on the internet. Wow. See, I think he does have a very, I don't know, a very expensive PR team. I think that he's needed one in recent years and we will get to why because he has had quite the list of controversies over the years. But in 2020, his other son, Phineas, is born. And in 2021, he begins to get a lot of criticism after the release of two documentaries, Framing Britney Spears and Malfunction, The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson.

37:37He was the villain in both of these stories. And again, we will get to both of these controversies more in detail. This is just kind of like a little timeline rundown. But this was kind of, I think, like he was already falling off at this point by 2021, but public sentiment for him plummeted at this point, especially after also Britney's memoir, The Woman and Me, released in 2023. His reputation continued to plummet. In 2024, his sixth album, Everything I Thought It Was, released, and he launched the Forget tomorrow world tour. This is going to ruin the tour. He's also arrested for a DUI in the Hamptons that year.

38:18And basically where we're at today is public sentiment is not great for him. Let's back up and talk about some of these controversies and scandals a little bit more in detail. Obviously the Brittany relationship. It is such a stark contrast how differently the press treated Britney versus Justin. He was America's golden boy and he was heartbroken by Britney the slut. So Wesley Morris, a New York Times critic mentioned that the way people treated her versus him, it was very high school. Like she was the school slut and he was the high school quarterback. Britney wrote about this in her memoir. She wrote in the media, I was described as a harlot who'd broken the heart of America's golden boy.

39:10And there's always more leeway in Hollywood for men than for women, which is so true. And I see how men are encouraged to talk trash about women in order to become famous and powerful. But I was shattered. During a 2003 interview with Barbara Walters, Justin was asked if Britney had, quote unquote, kept her promise to wait until marriage to have sex. Instead of defending Britney, Justin famously just laughed in response, raising public suspicion about her virginity. Once again, our society was slash is obsessed with young women's virginities and never men's. So gross.

39:43Christy Noel:Yeah. It's so misogynistic and disgusting. It's disgusting. She actually revealed in her book that she did not lose her B card to Justin, but they were sexually active together. And then again, when this documentary came out, people were reminded. And in the midst of her conservatorship battle, people were reminded of again, about how awful he was. And with the release of her book, also the narrative essentially flipped. And even though we were all on just, I mean, we, I was never team Justin Timberlake, for the record, I've always been a diehard Britney stan. If you don't believe me, I will post the picture of me with her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in, must've been 2007.

40:24and by first I'm going to LA.

40:28Christy Noel:Tinseltown. Tinseltown baby and we are now on Britney's side obviously but this is actually something that was revealed in her memoir that wasn't public knowledge before. She got pregnant at 19 by Justin and he was so sure that he didn't want to be a father that he pressured her into an abortion. And so they were having sex despite their public image of abstinence. She says she would have never chosen to have an abortion, but felt like she had no choice. And they had to do the abortion at home. Yeah. And she describes it vividly in her book where he's strumming the guitar while she's in so much pain.

41:12Christy Noel:Oh, just it's heartbreaking. Diabolical. Yeah. She writes in the book. Yeah. We also decided on something that in retrospect wound up being, in my view, wrong. And that was that I should not go to a doctor or hospital to have the abortion because they were worried that people would obviously see her, spot her. It was important that no one find out about the pregnancy or the abortion, which meant doing everything at home. She took the little pills. I went to the bathroom and stayed there for hours, lying on the floor, sobbing and screaming. She described unbelievable pain. I went down to the ground on my knees, holding the toilet.

41:44Christy Noel:Oh, my God. And so she said that he was strumming the guitar. He came into the bathroom and lay on the floor and he thought maybe music would help. So he got his little guitar and he lay there with me strumming it. And they never took her to the hospital, even though she was in this massive amount of pain. It left her mess. This event left her messed up for a while, especially because I still did love Justin so much. It was insane how much I loved him. And for me, it was unfortunate. She says she loved him. She really, really, really loved him. As much as Justin hurt me, there was a huge foundation of love.

42:19And when he left me, I was devastated. I could barely speak for months. Whenever anyone asked me about him, all I could do was cry. I don't know if I was clinically in shock, but it felt that way.

42:30Christy Noel:I genuinely feel like this breakup between Justin and Brittany was so devastating to her. And especially because they were platformed as the it couple, the golden couple. I genuinely feel like her decision to be with someone like a loser, like Kevin Federline, who continues to be a fucking loser to this day was in response to just the heartbreak. She fell from her first love. That was just it. I just, my heart breaks for her because I feel like she never fully got over him. Yeah. And then it's just juxtaposed with how it was positioned in the press was that Brittany broke his heart and she, she mistreated him.

43:12When in reality, she loved him and she was completely shattered and heartbroken over their breakup. She does admit that she kissed choreographer Wade Robson when she was with Justin, but told Justin about it and they moved past it at the time. But Justin cheated on her.

43:29Christy Noel:Yes. And he said in a 2006 GQ interview that when we initially parted ways, I felt like she had a couple opportunities to just stick up for me and she didn't, which is fine. But at the time, you know, I fought back. And he fought back by using his mind to come up with a song. Cry me a ripper. He would do so many interviews just villainizing her. And completely leaving out so much context and just making it so black and white. Like she's the harlot. I am the heartbroken golden boy. In her book, Brittany says how guilty she felt when she kissed Wade Robson, the choreographer. And she's like, but I assure you, it was nothing but a kiss.

44:11Christy Noel:all the while, Justin Timberlake had been cheating on her. So it sucks because I don't think we didn't talk about that whenever they broke up. It was always that Britney cheated on Justin with Wade. That was always the public consensus. Yep, exactly. Even though he cheated also. And he said in this 2006 interview, I dated Britney half my life, but I don't know that person anymore. I'm not sure I knew her before. If I was writing an article about her, I would not be able to fight the urge to write every dirty thing about her. He just never missed an opportunity to slander her and talk shit about her.

44:42But again, after their breakup, Brittany wrote about how she was basically comatose in Louisiana and he was happily running around Hollywood doing all of this press and doing all these interviews about her. And so she was like this explosive album and all the press that surrounded it and cry me a river. Justin neglected to mention the several times that he cheated on me. So actually in January, 2024, in a bizarre twist. Brittany posted an apology to Justin on Instagram for what she said in her book, even though it was quickly deleted. She wrote, I want to apologize for some of the things I wrote about in my book.

45:15If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about, I am deeply sorry. I also wanted to say I'm in love with his new song, Selfish. It's so good. This post is obviously unexpectedly positive towards Justin. It triggered a conspiracy theory that Brittany didn't write it herself or that Justin's team paid slash coerced her into publicly supporting him, which is an interesting conspiracy theory. So a day or two after this, also in 2024, he's doing a show at the Irving Plaza in NYC. And he famously says, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to absolutely fucking nobody right before playing Cry Me a River.

45:59This was insane.

46:01Christy Noel:I remember when this happened. He can't help himself. After Brittany poured her heart out in her book, did you read The Woman in Me, by the way? Yeah, I did. Yeah, it's like she was so vulnerable and talked about how much she loved him. And the best thing he can say is, I will apologize to fucking nobody. Get a life. You have not grown up one iota. And you know how people say that how stars they stop maturing at the age that they got famous this is very clear to me that Justin Timberlake is living in his 14 year old freaking body mind yes I knew you were going to say that yeah he like stopped maturing at age like 12 after this Brittany went back to being her normal self and roasting him again on Instagram she said someone told me someone was talking shit about me on the streets you want me to bring it to the court or will you go home crying to your mom like you did last time.

46:49I'm not sorry. Oh, Brittany. I love her. But yeah. So Kevin Federline has also recently come out to claim, like you said, that Brittany called Justin the night before their wedding in 2004. It seems like she was, despite the accusations that she was, again, this harlot that broke her heart. She was broke his heart. She was the one that was really, really, really heartbroken after the breakup for a long time. Okay. So let's move on to nipple gate. Oh my God. So February 4th, 2004, the Superbowl halftime show, Justin is performing with Janet Jackson and there is a part of the performance where he rips part of her costume that was covering her right breast.

47:33And it's during the lyric, going to get, have you naked by the end of this song, you know, and he rips it off and her nipple is like covered. It has like a pasty or like something on it, but it was displayed to the audience and they both said it was a wardrobe malfunction and it was supposed to reveal a red bra and not the nipple pasty. I'm sorry. Controversial opinion. I didn't understand what the big deal with this was. Her nipple was not exposed. It was like a pasty.

48:00Christy Noel:Wait, I too never have understood this because was our Justin and Janet saying that, oh, it was a wardrobe malfunction and he whipped off too much or was the intent always for the pasty to be shown? No. So their explanation was that it was malfunction. It was not supposed to just reveal her boob with the pasty on it. It was supposed to reveal another part of her costume. I really feel like this was overblown. Again, this is 2004, so it was a different time. But I feel like it was so overblown. I never understood. I mean, I was 12 at the time. But at 12 years old, I was like, what's the big deal?

48:40Christy Noel:you know breathing a ball this deeply deeply impacted her career in a way that she was never able to return to even though they were both a part of this and Justin Timberlake was more famous than ever at this time and continue to get more and more famous after 2004 exactly so that's the problem the FCC finds CBS 550 ,000 dollars for this and it was a massive massive deal you can't even overstate how big of a deal this was and like you said Janet Jackson's career never recovered from this. She was basically blacklisted from the industry. Radios wouldn't play her songs. Her album sales were really low and she stopped being invited to award shows.

49:19Lots of her projects were canceled. She lost a ton of career opportunities. She actually had a biopic in the works, which was also canceled. So she lost tons of opportunities. Meanwhile, Justin continued to thrive and do the Super Bowl halftime show again after this. He ended up issuing a scripted apology at the time, but was still invited to perform at the Grammys. Whereas Janet Jackson, her invite was rescinded altogether. And he won Grammy awards after this. He would joke about the wardrobe malfunction in interviews later. And it was a joke to him. So he finally did publicly apologize 17 years later in a 2021 Instagram statement.

50:02And the apology was for both Justin and Janet and for both Janet and Brittany, Janet and Brittany. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Yeah. Well, he says, I've seen the messages, tags, comments, and concerns, and I want to respond. I'm deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn or did not speak up for what was right. He said, I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson, both individually, because I care for and respect these women. And I know I failed. And I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism.

50:39So he kind of did a two for one apology at the time.

50:43Christy Noel:But I mean, this was so clearly written by a PR. Oh, yeah. By the way, it's so beautifully written. Like the industry is flawed. It sets men, especially white men up for success. Yeah. It's designed this way. As a man in a privileged position, I have to be vocal about this. goes on and on. Like, yeah, it's worded perfectly, but it was not him. And he only apologizes at the time because he is getting so much shit from both of those documentaries getting released and public sentiment changing towards him. Whereas he went on for 17 years. And in Britney's case, like 20 years benefiting from the media just destroying these women.

51:25And then all of a sudden he's like, hey, I'm sorry, by the way. It's just like it's not enough. Good energy in. Good energy out.

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52:15Christy Noel:So good. So good. New summer arrivals are at Nordstrom rack stores. Now get ready to save big with up to 60 % off brands like rag and bone, Levi's, Adidas, and free people. Join the Nordiclub to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. So in spring 2024, he gets his GUI where he infamously says, this is going to ruin the tour. What tour? The world tour. and he is in the Hamptons and he'd apparently just come from the posh American hotel in Sag Harbor. Again, like I said, the Gen Z officer who pulled him over famously didn't know who he was and he didn't recognize him, didn't recognize his name.

53:11It's so funny. Like it became like just this, obviously this massive meme of him saying this is going to ruin the tour.

53:18Christy Noel:what tour the world tour he not the top uh naming him as uh having a small build small build at 170 pounds and 6-1 that's what the cop said not what sophie and i are saying it's so funny it's literally like the funniest scenario he claimed that he only had one martini before getting behind the wheel but apparently he had bloodshot glassy eyes and he refused to take a breathalyzer three times. And there was like a strong odor of alcohol coming from him. And he was unsteady and failed a field sobriety test. So he was charged with driving while intoxicated and cited for running a stop sign and leaving in the car.

54:01But he was still able to continue with the tour. And if anything, the DUI brought more attention to the tour and people had fun with it with the memes. He later pleaded guilty to the charge of driving while impaired and was sentenced to a$500 fine, 25 hours of community service in a mandatory public safety announcement about the dangers of impaired driving. The original DUI charge was dropped as part of the plea deal. So he just had the lesser driving wall ability impaired and his license was suspended for 90 days.

54:34Christy Noel:Honestly, your point, this arrest made his tour more, I don't know, people were more tuned in. I really believe that had he not been arrested, the tour wouldn't have got as much publicity. Yeah. And there actually is a conspiracy theory that the DUI was orchestrated in order to drum up attention and press for the tour, which like, it's an interesting conspiracy theory but I don't think he's smart enough for that and I don't think that's worth it he already has such a shitty reputation right now like yeah it just it just doesn't seem worth it to me in my opinion but speaking of the tour so this was his first tour in years and it kicked off in April 2024 and it was attended honestly like we said by mostly women of the NSYNC era nostalgic millennials and early reviews of the tour were like pretty positive for the most part.

55:26And then the DUI scandal broke and videos started to go viral. These videos are so funny of Justin barely moving slash singing. You can tell that he's a little bit like slow. Like he doesn't have, I mean, he's 44 years old. He doesn't have the same dance moves that he once had, but the worst part is these videos of him, like not singing and just letting the audience sing for him. So for example, this one viral TikTok where he goes, I got this feeling and then puts the mic down and then the rest of the audience just sings and he just like stands up on the stage like not doing anything. Like, what are you doing?

56:03Christy Noel:The concert goers literally paid however much money to hear themselves sing. Like it was atrocious. Yeah. Ripped apart on social media, reasonably, like understandably so, because he literally was not performing at all. He was just running not even running briskly walking up and down the stage it was such a walking it was such a joke briskly walking and then he was like his dance moves were so i just got like caught up in my wires like my headphones and my mic but he just like he's just like no it was just it's so funny it was a mess and then there was an awkward speaking of wardrobe malfunctions at his nashville show where he was strapped into this harness and then you could see like the outline of his peepee and it was really funny so it was basically just like a humiliation ritual this entire tour so after that nashville tiktok went viral of him on that harness with his see-through pants yeah the next concert he had a shirt that covered his like groin yeah yeah yeah he's he's so embarrassing dude he sees your tiktoks i know it's so embarrassing it literally this entire tour was a humiliation ritual.

57:11I swear to God. So as the tour continued, actually a lot of the tour dates were canceled and he claimed health issues like bronchitis, laryngitis. He canceled the last show of the U S leg of the tour in Ohio due to the flu. Some of these rough clips of the shows were going viral. And then at that point he revealed that he had Lyme disease, which a lot of celebrities have these days for some reason.

57:42Christy Noel:Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake. Yeah. So this was after his tour wrapped in Turkey in July. He announced this diagnosis. So wishing him the best with his health. But people were saying that that was kind of an interesting time to announce that he suffered with Lyme disease, considering how poorly his onstage presence was received. Like people were saying, huh, that's kind of interesting that you literally just shit the bed on your world tour the first time you ever came back publicly. And all of a sudden you conveniently have Lyme disease. Yeah, exactly. And then also a lot of people speculated that the canceled tour dates weren't because he was sick, but because the ticket sales were so low.

58:30one last thing that we need to talk about is the accusations of cultural appropriation. So Justin, like we said, when he went solo, he really leaned into the R &B hip hop lifestyle, which are traditionally black music genres. He kind of like made this massive career off of cultural appropriation is what a lot of people accuse him of. And I didn't know about his Prince feud until we did research for this episode. Had you heard of this?

59:00Christy Noel:No. Walk me through it. So in 2006, Prince took a dig at Justin at a post Emmy Awards party, apparently saying to the crowd for whoever is claiming they brought sexy back, sexy never left. And then Justin in 2007 at Golden Globes, he was presenting the award for a song and Prince wasn't at the ceremony. So Justin accepted the award on his behalf and ducked down to a low stance at the microphone to accept the award because Prince was famously five, three short stature. So it seems like he was dissing Prince's height. And then Justin apparently just Prince on the 2007 Timbaland song, give it to me and was making fun of his mumble and saying now if sexy never left, then why is everybody on my shit.

59:53Don't hate on me just because you didn't come up with it. So everyone interpreted this as him making fun of Prince. Prince tragically passed away in 2016, but in 2018, Justin is tapped to do the Superbowl in Minneapolis, which is Prince's hometown. He gets to do the Superbowl halftime show again, just 12 years after Nipplegate, whereas Janet Jackson never recovered. And a lot of Prince fans were really mad about this because they were like, this is Prince's hometown, Prince and Justin famously beefed. I never knew about it, but apparently a lot of Prince fans were very familiar with this beef and don't like Justin Timberlake because of it.

1:00:31Justin performed the song, I Would Die For You, with a large projection of Prince in the city lit purple. And fans were already upset about the use of a hologram because Prince had strongly opposed using holograms. People were not happy about it. And the tribute just was very awkward. and yeah, that's the Prince beef. But in Brittany's book, which this was an amazing call out in her memoir, she made fun of the way that Justin would appropriate AAVE and say things like, faux shiz, faux shiz, what's up homie?

1:01:10Christy Noel:Yeah, it's actually, that's kind of an interesting point to bring up because Justin Bieber as well, when he came up in like 2010, I feel like also kind of appropriated R &B, like black culture a lot. Again, we're not black women, so I don't really know if they find it offensive or like what that, I don't know what I'm trying to say. I guess, do we see that happening today? I guess it was Justin Bieber was doing it as recently as 2010. Do we see that happening today with many artists, with white artists? That's a good question. I would be curious to hear what people think. I feel like it was definitely like that was a moment in the early 2000s where Justin was definitely visibly appropriating black culture in terms of Justin Bieber I'm not as much of a believer as you are so I do agree that there were moments in his career where he did but I never picked up on it as much as when Justin Timberlake was doing it but I don't know let us know you guys if there is an artist today that you think is still guilty of this I can't I don't know I'm sure there are I'm sure there are.

1:02:16I think it's a different time. It's just not coming to us at this moment. Well, it's also a different time where I think people are purposely more careful about it. And the early 2000s were different, where Justin felt, for whatever reason, empowered to act like that. Yeah, and it was like the way that he spoke. I remember also, I mean, I love Ariana Grande today, but there was a moment also where Ariana Grande was accused of appropriating Black culture and also the way that she would talk. And now she's a completely different person. So it's like, this was just like a phase for you.

1:02:47Christy Noel:Wait, that's a great, that's a great analogy. I think Ariana, when people called her, call her today, there was like blackiana. And now she's a white woman with blonde hair with a high voice. With a high voice. And now she's a serious actress. Yeah. She, oh my God. She talked completely. I've seen like side by side TikToks of how she used to speak and how she speaks today. And it's completely different. And even we talk about like the King Kylie resurgence. So much of the King Kylie era was her appropriating black culture. And so that's why also it's not hitting it's not hitting the same because it's just that that was a moment in time where she was appropriating cornrows and things that she should not have been appropriating.

1:03:37I don't know it's just there are probably a lot more people that we're not thinking of that are

1:03:42Christy Noel:still guilty of that and that's one other thing that I wanted to just mention is in just kind of going back to the Brittany and Justin feud there was one VMA award that he was granted an award but he wasn't there so he dialed in remotely and he came up on the screen and he was thanking the audience. Thank you for your support, whatever. And then at the end, he goes, a word of advice, something to the effect of stop drinking. You look like a fool. You look so dumb. Quit it. And he was clearly talking to Britney Spears because she was clearly struggling with mental health. And people, when he came out with that, when he was arrested for his DWI, people were hearkening back to that video from the VMAs and say, you are such a hypocrite.

1:04:24Christy Noel:Like, how dare you? She was clearly going through something serious mentally. And you're poking fun of it in such a public forum when you're receiving an award that has nothing to do with Britney Spears or your breakup, get a life. He's always been so just mean, honestly. When it comes to Britney, I feel like every accusation is a confession. The cheating, problem with alcohol, it's like he's the one that was repeatedly cheating, apparently, and also clearly has a questionable relationship with alcohol based on DUI, the cheating scandal. he just is such a freaking hypocrite when it comes to britney and i'm personally glad that this has continued to haunt him in a way i feel like his career has never fully recovered to what it once was and he really was at one point like this superstar triple threat he really was an original like the term triple threat he could have been invented to describe him so it's like the fact that his career has floundered this hard.

1:05:31I think there are multiple reasons, including all these controversies that we've talked about through the lens of 2025. We are thinking, wow, how did this guy get away with it for so long? You know? And then also he's just not producing like a good body of work. I mean, he's been in a few good movies. His music has mostly flopped. His tour flopped. His dance moves are not what they once was. So the triple threat is kind of a zero at this point. Yeah.

1:06:01Christy Noel:He's kind of faded into oblivion. And I feel as if his career, although it was, he was so important and such a trailblazer for music in the early 2000s. The mask has slipped. And I think with this renaissance of women supporting other women, people just supporting women and recognizing mental health. I think we now see Justin for who he is, which is unfortunately for those who have loved his music for so long an incredibly problematic person who has been unable to take accountability and it's always just shoved his own demons and like projected them on to the women he's dated or like britney yeah really yeah and it's really unfortunate because i really like jessica beale i think she's a really talented actress and she's been she was in this one series on hulu called candy and interestingly enough elizabeth olsen also did the same about the same murder on HBO Max.

1:06:52I watched that. I watched that. She was actually really good.

1:06:55Christy Noel:Jessica Biel. Yeah. I mean, Elizabeth Olsen was better, but also the Elizabeth Olsen one was on HBO. So it was like a little bit, I think, higher budget. Correct. And Justin Timberlake was actually in Candy alongside his wife. But I don't even remember he was. He was a very small part. I think he played like the policeman, but he wasn't nearly as big as Jessica in that series. but I do like Jessica. And every time I see them posting about one another's birthdays, I'm always so curious what goes on behind the scenes because I don't, I wouldn't go so far as to say Justin's a narcissist or anything, but he clearly is very self-interested.

1:07:33Yeah.

1:07:33Christy Noel:And his behavior with Alicia Wainwright, when they were filming Palmer in New Orleans, that's just probably a very small picture into what Jessica has to deal with so often. And just the fact that he said on stage so publicly, I apologize to absolutely fucking nobody. when Britney is like pouring her heart out about all the struggles that she endured when she was, you know, in 2007. And he has the audacity to say something as aggressive and mean and standoffish as that. Oh, he just is such a typical, like, and I try not to like use, throw this term around, but it's like white privileged male. You've had everything handed to you.

1:08:11Christy Noel:You were told since day one that you were the best in your group. You were the best artist of all time at one point. And I just don't think he's ever shaken that image of himself. He just thinks of himself in such a high regard that no one could shake it. Not any scandal, not any of this. He to him is Justin Timberlake. That was 2007. Justin Timberlake still. Absolutely. Yeah. He also stopped maturing at age 12, like we said. Yes. Yeah. Let us know, you guys. What are your feelings today on Justin Timberlake? Did you, were you team NSYNC or team Backstreet Boys? What were you? I actually, I was obsessed with NSYNC.

1:08:46Like I loved it. I love Justified. So yeah, it's been quite the fall from grace for him in my eyes. Even though, like I said, I was always team Britney. I really enjoyed his music for a period of time.

1:09:03Christy Noel:Justified is honestly one of, it's a very good album. Very good album. It is. It's kind of like objectively a good album. But yeah, team Britney, always justice for Britney. and yeah, I think Justin Timberlake is just, he's getting his karma, I think. It took a while, but karma always comes back around and that's why he is not really relevant anymore. It took like two and a half decades while we're here. Yeah, it did. It took two decades, but it always comes back around. But I'm curious if any baby snarks if you guys saw, went to his tour. If you bought tickets for the Man of the Woods tour before hearing the album, like my coworker did.

1:09:43Christy Noel:That is honestly one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Oh my God. Okay. Well, thank you guys so much for listening. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at snark great pod. I am at Soph underscore Ross also. And Christy is at Christy Noel underscore underscore. Thank you to Jordan, Rachel, and Olivia, our amazing team. And yeah, leave us a five for rating and interview. And Kartik, our new YouTube video person who we are so thankful for. By the way, you guys, this week on the Patreon, we're talking about Zach, Vanessa, and Ashley of High School Musical. So if you're interested in that, head on over to Patreon, patreon.com slash snarkbaitpod.

1:10:24Christy Noel:We do bonus episodes every Wednesday and ad-free episodes from the main over there. And yeah, thank you guys so much for joining us. We'll see you on Tuesday for another episode of DET. Bye. Bye.

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