Justin Timberlake Says *NSYNC Once ‘Accidentally Broke Into’ Alcatraz

Justin Timberlake surely has several fond memories from his *NSYNC days, but there’s probably not another quite like the time he and Joey Fatone broke into Alcatraz. Yes, you read that right.

The “Can’t Stop the Feeling” singer stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday (March 11) to promote Trolls World Tour with collaborators Anderson .Paak and SZA, and they played a game of “Spill the Tea”. And boy did Justin spill the tea: “I accidentally broke into Alcatraz one time”.

How does one break into a prison, you ask? Well, it all started when *NSYNC was filming their now-iconic “This I Promise You” video in the San Francisco Bay, and Timberlake noticed that they were directly across from the historic prison.

“At that time, I was watching The Untouchables over and over again, and I was obsessed with the fact that Al Capone was — that they put him in Alcatraz”, Timberlake recalled. “I said, ‘Who wants to go see Alcatraz with me?’ and Joey, who’s usually game for anything, he was like, ‘I’ll go with you'”.

The two caught a boat ride from local fire department officials (who wanted pics with *NSYNC, naturally), but upon arrival, they realized they needed tickets. Timberlake explained to DeGeneres that after they successfully pretended people behind them had their tickets, “We ended up sort like, sneaking in and getting the earphones, and weaving our way into one of the tour groups”.

But their sneaky ploy didn’t last long. “We had just gotten to Al Capone’s cell, so we get a tap on the shoulder and they’re like, ‘Come with me’, and I was like, ‘Joe, we’re gonna go down in history as the dumbest people ever. We got caught breaking into a prison'”.

Fortunately for *NSYNC and their fans, though, accidentally breaking into Alcatraz apparently doesn’t result in being locked up. “They let us go away with a warning”, Timberlake said, “and obviously we had to pay for the tickets”.

Along with playing “Spill the Tea”, Timberlake sat down for an interview with DeGeneres, both on his own and with SZA and .Paak.

Billboard