Justin Timberlake Jokes and Apologizes for His Beatboxing Era: 'I Can't Promise I Won't Do It Again'

Justin Timberlake has finally apologized for one of his more memorable early-2000s habits: breaking into beatboxing on stage.

After an Instagram creator resurfaced clips of the singer’s old performances in early October, Timberlake decided it was time to address the throwback musical moment himself.

Hannah Young, a.k.a. @uhhuhhannah, took to Instagram to reminisce on some bizarre moments in pop culture.

"We don't talk about Justin Timberlake beatboxing enough," the influencer declared. "Because there was a moment in time where that man would be in the middle of a song and just, 'Boots and cats, boots and cats.' And we were like, 'Yes. There he is!'"

She continued, "Nobody questioned it. Nobody said, 'Justin, you know, we have drums. This is a professional recording studio. There are instruments available to you.' But no, Justin Timberlake wanted to make space noises with his mouth. You couldn't stop 'em. Awards shows, live performances, you gave that man a microphone, and there was always a chance he was about to go, 'Boots and cats, boots and cats.'"

Young quipped that everyone "liked it."

"That's what I need us to sit with. We were watching that man make drum noises with his mouth, like, 'Oh my God! What can't he do?' I just — I think about it sometimes," she added.

The man in question popped into the comments section to say his piece once and for all.

"I often look back on that time as well," he wrote. "I still haven’t come up with any answers. I don’t know how to apologize enough for whatever those ambitions were. Too many boots. Too many cats. I hope you can forgive me. Also, I can’t promise I won’t do it again. God help us all."

While Timberlake beatboxed on many occasions during the late '90s and early 2000s, there is one particular performance that lives rent-free in a large swathe of millennials' minds: a three-minute beatboxing mess-around at Madison Square Garden from the year 2000, when the star was part of *NSYNC.

During the performance, Timberlake tried out various beatboxing styles, paired with hip rolls and neck rolls. At one point, he beatboxed the words, "You see, they call me Lake. Timber, Timber, Timberlake."

Under a YouTube clip of the beatboxing performance, people shared their feelings.

"He owes the world an apology for this," one person wrote.

"I return to this video whenever I wanna feel better about myself," said someone else.

"I play this when it's late at night, and I want the guests to leave," added another.

"Only 3 and a half minutes, yet it felt like an eternity," wrote a fourth commenter.

"I regret looking this video up," concluded another.