No, Justin Timberlake didn’t have poppers in his system when he was arrested – or HIV drug Truvada
Justin Timberlake was charged with driving while intoxicated. (Sag Harbor Police Department)
Despite what you may have heard, it seems Justin Timberlake isn’t a poppers user.
The 43-year-old singer was arrested on a DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) charge in New York on Tuesday (18 June) and rumours swirled online about what may have been in his blood system at the time.
Timberlake was reportedly arrested when he ran a stop sign, drifted out of his lane and an officer deemed him to be “in an intoxicated condition”.
“Mr Timberlake was placed under arrest, processed and held overnight for morning arraignment,” the Guardian reported.
Many were taken in by social media posts from Poo Crave, a satirical account that spoofs the widely-followed entertainment account Pop Crave.
The Poo Crave post on X (Twitter) read: “Justin Timberlake allegedly had traces of molly, poppers, Truvada, and coke in his bloodstream following his DWI arrest in New York.” Molly is a slang term for MDMA/Ecstasy, coke is cocaine and Truvada is an HIV/AIDS medication.
What are poppers?
Poppers are the colloquial name for amyl nitrite – a popular liquid drug in the gay community that can give an instant high when inhaled. They also relax the anal muscles.
Amyl nitrite was originally sold in glass ampoules. Patients were instructed to crush them and inhale the fumes. It was the popping sound those ampoules made when they were crushed that gave rise to the term “poppers”.
The tweet claiming Timberlake had poppers and Truvada in his system was quickly debunked, with a community note added to it that read:
“This is a satire acc. According to JT’s lawyer, ‘The charge was a single count because he refused the breath test,’ and ‘Mr. Timberlake was also charged with two other court citations, running a stop sign and not traveling in the correct traffic lane.’ No reports on blood test.”
A statement from the Sag Harbor Police Department given to Variety reads: “[Timberlake] was observed operating a 2025 BMW southbound on Madison Street, failing to stop at a duly posted stop sign and failing to maintain his lane of travel.
“A traffic stop was initiated by a Police Officer from the Sag Harbor Village Police Department and upon investigation it was determined that Mr. Timberlake was operating his vehicle in an intoxicated condition.”
Timberlake’s lawyer, Ed Burke, told Us Weekly: “The charge was a single count because he refused the breath test.”
According to reports from The New York Post, Timberlake claimed to have had just “one martini” prior to his arrest.
“His eyes were bloodshot and glassy, 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 report also added.
The “Sexy Back” singer’s court date is scheduled for 26 July which may pose a scheduling conflict for Timberlake as he has a performance in Poland scheduled that day as part of his The Forget Tomorrow World Tour.
The singer will perform his first shows in Europe in a number of years, with dates planned in London, Berlin, Manchester, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and more.
The tour supports his sixth studio album, Everything I Thought It Was, which features his recently released single “Selfish”.
The album, released in March, had a mixed reception. Many felt similar to Pitchfork’s review that detailed the album was “designed to buff the dents out of his public image in the wake of a recent memoir by his ex-girlfriend, Britney Spears.”
In her 2023 memoir, The Woman In Me, Spears details that she became pregnant but Timberlake encouraged her to get an abortion.
Spears wrote: “Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young … 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.”
