Justin Timberlake has issued an apology after a video of him doing the dance style “Beat Ya Feet” to his song “Sexy Back” went viral on social media. The artist posted a series of videos on his Instagram story apologizing to Washington D.C. where the dance was born.
In the clip, the artist quipped, “D.C., I want to apologize to you for two reasons: here and here,” before zooming in on his feet. “I had a long talk with both of them, individually, and said, ‘Don’t you ever do that to me again.’”
The 41-year-old also blamed his khaki pants. “Maybe it was the khakis. It was a real khaki vibe,” he added. Timberlake also promised to make it up to them, “I’m going to make this up to you. I’m going to focus on these two guys right here and get em right. Love y’all.” Timberlake also shared a viral TikTok video of Corey Obrien copying his moves.
One of the reasons the clip went viral was because it was Juneteenth weekend, and the dance style was born from members of the Black community. The dance was born in southeast Washington, D.C., and is defined by rapid footwork. Marvin “Slush” Taylor created Beat Ya Feet in the late 1990s. Twitter users were ripping the musician to shreds with tweets like, “Justin Timberlake attempting to beat his feet in DC to Sexyback during Juneteenth weekend was extremely discomforting to me and my ancestors.”