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celebrity beefs
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Justin Timberlake is bringing beefing back. Or is he?
It’s been a full decade since Miley Cyrus twerked all over Robin Thicke at the 2013 Video Music Awards, setting off a cultural firestorm and launching a thousand thinkpieces. That was a high water mark for the VMAs in the 2010s as a cultural institution — and, arguably, the last time MTV found itself at the center of the culture — so it makes sense that the moment that everyone’s talking about from the 2023 Video Music Awards isn’t something the producers planned in advance. Video from MTV’s official backstage cam showing Megan Thee Stallion seemingly getting all up in Justin Timberlake’s grill is prompting mass speculation on every social media platform imaginable.
It’s been a bit of a rough ride for the once untouchable Justin Timberlake over the last few years. He was busted (allegedly) cheating on his wife Jessica Biel, he caught some strays during the #FreeBritney movement, he was forced to apologize (again!) for his role in the infamous Janet Jackson #Nipplegate scandal, and his DadBod dance moves were met with snickers (and worse). Now, this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment emanating out of Newark, New Jersey (of all the places!) sees him getting straight up roasted on Twitter — on a night when he was hoping to soak up nothing but praise after reuniting on-stage with the other members of *NSYNC.
The clip in question does not have sound — which, in a weird twist, is actually helping fuel the speculation online, not hinder it — but in it, Timberlake appears to say something to Megan Thee Stallion while she’s getting prepped to go on camera, and Miss Stallion (Miss Thee Stallion?) responds by doing this:
Is that a friendly finger wag at Timberlake, or a furious finger wag? Is she trying to signal her displeasure with Joey Fatone’s performance My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3? Tough to tell!
So what happened? We’re not sure! But that didn’t stop people from jumping to conclusions. This person thinks it was about Janet Jackson!
This TikToker doesn’t know, either, but also proclaims “solidarity for Janet Jackson.”
This account also doesn’t know, but frames it as an “argument.”
Variety’s Jem Aswad, a very plugged-in individual, quickly tried to douse the flames of this brewing beef. He reports, via a backstage source:
It looks like it could be an argument, but a backstage source who witnessed the exchange tells Variety there was “zero fight.”
“He said, ‘It’s so nice to meet you,’ and she said ‘No, no this don’t count, this don’t count. We gotta meet proper.’
“It was very cute,” the source says.
For what it’s worth, neither Miss Stallion or Mr. Timberlake have commented on the situation as of press time, but one thing is certain: Moments like this make us miss Wendy Williams.
