Footage shows US musician struggling with field sobriety tests he calls ‘really hard’ before his 2024 arrest in New York

Justin Timberlake struggled to perform field sobriety tests requiring him to walk a straight line and stand on one leg after the pop star was pulled over in New York’s Hamptons in 2024 by police officers who suspected him of driving drunk, according to video footage released on Friday.

Timberlake tells officers at one point: “These are, like, really hard tests.”

The footage, which runs roughly eight hours, includes Timberlake’s initial stop after Sag Harbor police said he ran a stop sign in the village center, veered out of his lane and got out of his BMW smelling of alcohol that June.

The ‘NSync singer turned solo artist and actor tells officers he had consumed one martini and had been following friends home in the former whaling village, which is among the affluent beach towns of the Hamptons, about 100 miles (160km) east of New York City.

When an officer asks why he is in town, Timberlake says: “I’m on a world tour.”

“Doing what?” the officer asks.

“Hard to explain,” Timberlake says.

After stammering a bit, he says: “World tour. I’m Justin Timberlake.”

The officer eventually responds: “You are Justin Timberlake? Do you have a license with you?”

Timberlake, who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of impaired driving, is asked by officers to walk heel-to-toe in a straight line on the road and lift one leg. At times he seems flustered listening to the instructions. He apologizes to officers and tells them his heart is racing.