Calling Out Justin Timberlake

Disclaimer

Before I get any death threats from the fan base. I don’t hate Justin Timberlake. He’s an all-round entertainer. As a vocalist, he’s fantastic and he’s also a good actor and dancer. As awesome as the great things he’s done, he deserves to be called out for all the bad things he’s done.

Last week, I made a poll on what my next story on Vocal should be, and there was one clear winner: a tale of misogyny, slut-shaming an hypocrites. This is one I’ve wanted to write for a while, but now feels the perfect time to vent out Justin Timberlake. I know it’s more trendier to vent about another Justin whose surname begins with B.

A new documentry about Britney has shown a dark side to Justin that has shocked many others, but to Britney fans like me, we saw it way before this documentry came to life. There’s two people that Justin really dragged under the bush: Britney Spears and Janet Jackson. His hit, Cry Me A River is a classic, but a real disrespect to Britney. He had the nerve to cry wolf about Britney kissing another guy, when he cheated too. He used Britney to boost his own career and Diane Sawyer slut-shamed her to tears.

I don’t think Justin to to blame for Britney’s decline of health, but I think he played a role. He should have stuck up for Britney more and supported her more like he said he would. The hypocrisy dosen’t end there, in another of his famous hits, Sexy Back there’s a lyrics that go: If that’s your girl better watch your back. She’ll burn it up for me and that’s a fact. On the same album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, there’s What Goes Around...Comes Around which is a sequel to Cry Me A River. Beautiful song, but now it feels like he’s really cashing in on Britney with the dirty laundry. He’s also cheated on his wife, Jessica.

So what sort of message does this give? It teaches us that it’s okay for guys to cheat, but if a woman does it, it’s an act of pure evil. Cheating is bad regardless of who’s doing it. If you’re practising polyamory, that’s fine as long as you’re honest about what you do. How can you grief about an unfaithful partner in one song, then boast about stealing girlfriends in the club with another song?

So now we have the event that’s known as the nipple gate incident. I remember watching this and feeling angry. Everyone was furious at Janet Jackson calling her a slut, an attention seeking whore and I’m like what the fuck? Janet Jackson is a legendary pop star, and none of it was her fault. I know some parts of the performance was staged, but I thought it was so unfair that Janet got all the shame from the wardrobe malfunction. Especially now, most the women are either naked or in bikinis in pop videos nowadays. Why was Justin’s allowed to soar whilst hers tanked?

He did Janet and Britney dirty. I hope he apologises to them one day. I can understand why the Jackson family are furious with him doing Superbowl. It’s so frustrating when artists you admire do really bad things. I know he’s human, and we all make mistakes but apart from Britney and Janet, who else has Justin mistreated?

There may be several more contenders, but for me, there is one thing that Justin has been screwing over his whole life: his hair! I don’t think anyone will be able to forget his ramen noodle hairstyle. That’s why there’s not much left of it now. Yeah, his hair was a horror, used to scare me as a kid. Glad he’s gotten better with age, looks wise.