Well, that's an interesting choice of words.
During his show at Irving Plaza in New York City last night, Justin Timberlake appeared to throw some shade at former girlfriend Britney Spears during his performance of "Cry Me A River," a song he wrote about her after their breakup in 2002, which led to an eventual backlash against Spears.
As captured by a fan's video, Timberlake's band was playing the song when he announced, "I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to absolutely f**king nobody!"
This comment comes just days after Spears posted an apology, many think was directed at Timberlake, over comments she made in her recent memoir, The Woman In Me.
“I wanna apologize for some of the things I wrote about in my book. If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about I am deeply sorry…” she wrote, adding a show of support for her ex's musical comeback.
“I also wanted to say I am in love with Justin Timberlake’s new song ‘Selfish’ It is soo good,” she continued.
The timing for Timberlake's comment seems odd, considering Spears's apology the other day. However, between the attack on his new song by Spears fans and the way in which he does not come off well in her book, he is obviously letting off some steam.
But this isn't the first time Timberlake has supposedly targeted Spears while performing "Cry Me A River." As one fan on X pointed out, back in 2013 he appeared to be calling her a "b**ch" as he introduced it to the audience.
To boot, "Nipplegate" occurred 20 years ago today (February 1), where Timberlake performed at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show with Janet Jackson and, well, you know how that went. I guess apologies really aren't a part of his comeback.
Update: Britney Spears has responded to Justin Timberlake's comments on Instagram, posting, "Someone told me someone was talking shit about me on the streets !!! Do you want to bring it to the court or will you go home crying to your mom like you did last time ??? I’m not sorry !!!"
See the video below.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize… to absolutely fucking nobody.”
— Kate Fan Account (@shadysanctuary) February 1, 2024
Justin Timberlake seemingly shades Britney Spears while performing tonight in NYC.
gilbertohoraa via IG stories pic.twitter.com/x8LFAWrbmt