Gayle King defends Justin Timberlake after DWI arrest, insists he isn’t ‘reckless’
Gayle King believes Justin Timberlake’s DWI-related arrest doesn’t accurately reflect who he is as a person.
The 69-year-old fiercely defended the “Mirrors” singer on Wednesday’s episode of CBS Mornings following a segment about his recent charges.
“Justin Timberlake is a really, really great guy,” she said. “Listen, this was clearly a mistake. I bet nobody knows it more than he.”
Despite the “stupid” mistake, Gayle insisted that he is “not an irresponsible,” “reckless” or “careless” type of person.
While she admitted “this is not a good thing,” she dittoed Billy Joel’s sentiment that people shouldn’t be so quick to judge the 10-time Grammy winner.
However, she noted that “there is never any excuse for” driving drunk and encouraged people to call a cab, friend or ride-hailing service if they ever find themselves in a similar situation.
The “Selfish” singer, 43, was pulled over by police early Tuesday morning after partying with friends at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor, NY.
According to the criminal complaint, the officer watched Timberlake “fail to stop at a posted stop sign” and “fail to keep to the right side of the road” multiple times before turning on their sirens.
Although the hitmaker claimed to have only had “one martini,” an eyewitness told Page Six that the “wasted” star was caught guzzling down another patron’s drink at one point in the night.
The arresting officer claimed “[Timberlake’s] eyes were bloodshot and glassy” and there was “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath.”
“He was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot, and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests,” the cop added.
However, we’re told the officer “was so young” he didn’t recognize the former *NSYNC member, who refused to take a breathalyzer test three times.
“He didn’t recognize him or his name,” our source shared.
Another insider added, “Justin said under his breath, ‘This is going to ruin the tour.’ The cop replied, ‘What tour?’ Justin said, ‘The world tour.’”
Timberlake was subsequently placed under arrest and charged with one count of driving while intoxicated and cited for two traffic violations.
However, the hitmaker — who was placed in handcuffs — was released that same morning.
While Timberlake has yet to speak out about the incident, his lawyer, Edward Burke Jr., exclusively told Page Six he “looks forward to vigorously defending Mr. Timberlake against these allegations.”
Timberlake, who plays at Madison Square Garden next week, is scheduled to be back in court on July 26.
The “SexyBack” singer has found himself embroiled in a few scandals since entering the spotlight as a tween — some of which have been due to excessive drinking.
