Quote from Oladosun Joshua Segun on April 8, 2026, 5:14 PM

Joey Fatone is remembering the time *NSYNC bid Justin Timberlake farewell. The first group boy band member disclosed that there was one instance during Justin's solo career that irritated him, even if there were no initial animosities when the "Sexyback" hitmaker left the group in 2002.

“When Justin [performed at] the MTV Awards—and he performed for the first time—and we introduced him,” as per Us Weekly, Joey stated in the Boy Band Confidential documentary series on Investigation Discovery, which begins on April 13 and 14, that he just thought: "This is some bulls--t.”

He continued, referring to leadership, "You are basically just pushing us aside a little bit to do this. But yet, you still want us around to introduce him.”

The 49-year-old, who played with Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass, and JC Chasez in the band from 1995 to 2002, clarified that the singer of "Mirrors" wasn't the source of his annoyance. Rather, Joey took offense at the way their superiors handled it.

“It is totally fine. But talk to us,” he stated. “Have a conversation. Say, ‘Hey, we’re promoting Justin. He has an album out. We’re not here for *NSYNC right now.’ If you would have had that conversation, it would have been a lot easier for me personally.”

“That was the weird thing about it,” he continued. “Nobody really had a conversation, per se. There was never a button, there was never a goodbye. There was never anything.”

However, Joey's dislike of Justin's subsequent chapter wasn't limited to that.

“Then, we did a red carpet on TV, and before that we’re like, ‘All five of us are going? Yes, all five of us are going on,’” he remembered. “Nope, It was almost like the record company was pushing us away and making sure Justin was getting his due.”

Joey made it clear that he doesn't "blame" Justin for how things turned out, despite any prior tension.

“It must have been very difficult to leave,” he went on to say. “Somebody should have said something.”