Justin Timberlakecelebrated his birthday with a one-night-only show in New York City, and made it clear he has “nobody” to apologize to.

Before singing his 2002 hit “Cry Me a River,” Timberlake took a moment to share some candid thoughts with the crowd. “I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to absolutely f—ing nobody,” Timberlake said before the song, a concertgoer confirmed to PEOPLE.

Timberlake also performed the song atthe opening of the Fontainebleau Las Vegasin December, butshouted “No disrespect!“before beginning the tune.

His latest comment comes afterBritney Spears shared her thoughts on the two-decade-old songin her memoir,The Woman in Me,describing the plot of the song’s music video as, “a woman who looks like me cheats on him and he wanders around sad in the rain.”

In the book, Spears, 42, claimed the media backlash from the video painted her as a “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy,” when in actuality, she was “comatose in Louisiana, and he was happily running around Hollywood.” Spears also confirmed in the book that she kissed choreographer Wade Robson while dating Timberlake.

Justin Timberlake thanks New York City crowd following free show at Irving Plaza.Justin Timbelake/Instagram

Justin Timberlake Thanks New York City After Show at Irving Plaza

Justin Timbelake/Instagram

Timberlake never addressed Spears' memoir recollections directly, but toldZane Lowelast month that his new material will give his supporters a “real” perspective on his life.

“I was able, on some of the songs, to look back at the past and have a real, not a refracted perspective of what it was because they always say … you always hear that thing about, well, there’s never any truth, there’s just everybody’s perspective of what happened,” he said. “But to really look at it and be able to metabolize and verbalize my perspective on it, I don’t think I’ve ever really done that before.”

Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake on The Tonight Show in January 2024.Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images

Jimmy Fallon and singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake with The Roots during “Classroom Instruments”

Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images

On Sunday, after Timberlake returned toSaturday Night Livefor the first time in 10 years, Spears made another public comment on the singer, praising the two new songs he performed on the NBC late-night sketch comedy show.

“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 in a since-deleted post on Instagram. “I also wanted to say I am in love with Justin Timberlake’s new song ‘Selfish’ 🌹 It is soo good and how come every time I see Justin and Jimmy together I laugh so hard ??? P.S. ‘Sanctified’ is wow 🤩 too.”

During Timberlake’s Irving Plaza show, his wife,Jessica Biel, also came out on stage and surprised the singer with a birthday cake and a song.

The crowd joined in to sing “Happy Birthday” to theTrollsstar. Timberlake greeted his wife, who held a cake with several lit candles, with a kiss and a hug as the audience sang to him and he blew out the candles.

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Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel leaving Irving Plaza in New York City on Jan. 31, 2024.BACKGRID

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel depart after his 43rd birthday concert at Irving Plaza in New York City.

BACKGRID

“THANK YOU NY ❤️,” he wrote atop the selfie-style video.

source: people.com