Despite a viral video suggesting otherwise, Megan Thee Stallion, 28, and Justin Timberlake, 42, were all smiles during a brief encounter backstage at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday night, according to a source close to the situation.
In the video, Megan was getting her hair touched up when Timberlake, accompanied by his *NSYNC bandmates, passed by. As they walked past her, Megan waved a friendly finger at Timberlake, who responded with a smile. Joey Fatone of *NSYNC was also seen laughing in the clip.
Contrary to the initial impression, insiders reveal that Megan was expressing her desire to meet Timberlake under less chaotic circumstances. The source shared that Timberlake greeted her with, “It’s so nice to meet you,” and Megan responded with, “No, no, this doesn’t count. We gotta meet proper.”
A second source emphasized that there was absolutely no tension between the two artists. “Meg loves Justin,” the source said. “She was saying, ‘No, no, no, we’ve never met before!’ It was their first time meeting, and she was excited.”
Megan attended the awards show to perform her latest song, “Bongos,” alongside Cardi B, while Timberlake joined his former *NSYNC bandmates, including Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez, and Lance Bass, to present Taylor Swift with the award for Best Pop Video.
Swift, who was visibly thrilled by the reunion, expressed her excitement during her acceptance speech. She gushed, “I had your dolls. Like, are you doing something? What’s going to happen now … They’re going to do something and I need to know what it is. You’re pop personified, so to receive this from your golden pop hands is really … it’s too much. Thank you for the friendship bracelets.”
