Justin Timberlake is attempting to clean up his image after his drunk driving scandal. The latest tactic? Spreading some holiday cheer through music!
In case you missed it, the singer’s legal drama came to an end last week after he accepted a plea deal that dropped the driving while intoxicated charge against him. On Friday, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of driving while ability impaired — which is only a traffic violation. Yeah, seriously. Even though evidence showed Justin was intoxicated when he got pulled over on June 18, he got hit with basically just a ticket.
Related: Hamptons DA Swears Justin Timberlake Isn’t Getting Special Treatment With Teensy Fine!
What that means is the actor avoided jail time. Instead, the judge ordered him to pay a tiny fine of $500, complete 25-40 hours of community service at a non-profit, and issue a “public safety announcement.” Justin already completed the last requirement. Immediately after the court hearing on Friday, he spoke outside the courthouse to remind everyone not to “get behind the wheel of a car” when you have been imbibing, even if you only had “one drink.”
And if you hoped Justin would continue to speak out about the dangers of drinking and driving afterward? Nope, he’s done with all that — from the minute he stepped away from reporters at the courthouse we imagine. Now he’s focused on the tour. What tour? His redemption tour…
In his first interview after the driving while intoxicated case ended, Justin only discussed the Forget Tomorrow World Tour and a new collaboration with Jimmy Fallon. Absolutely nothing about the arrest!
On Monday’s episode of The Tonight Show, the best friends revealed they recorded a track called You’ll Be There for the host’s upcoming Christmas album. According to Jimmy, it’s “a silly song” about their “bromance.” He continued:
“It’s us saying, like, ‘Hey, you’ll be there. You’ll be there for me this Christmas.’”
Of course, Justin is only there for him this Christmas because he got a slap on the wrist… The pair then went on to play a snippet of the song. Take a listen (below):
Wow. Inneresting that Justin is working with Jimmy in his post-DWI era…
In case you’ve forgotten — like NBC Universal would love you to — the comedian was called out by several staffers last year for being drunk and “toxic” behind the scenes of the late-night show. He is not exactly the best choice if you’re trying to show you are sorry and learned from your mistakes…
It’ll also take more than just a holiday song to get people back on your side, Justin! The court of public opinion is less impressed with your fame and money. What could have helped is actually addressing the DWI, finally owning what happened, and reminding everyone not to drink and drive. People would have respected it more. Just saying!
Yet that did not happen. Instead, JT just hopped on Jimmy Fallon with no shame and promoted “a silly song” for Christmas. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Do you plan to listen to the track when the album drops on November 1? Let us know in the comments.
[Image via The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon/YouTube]
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