Justin Timberlake may have risen to fame with the boy band, NSYNC, back in the early 2000s. But the singer/songwriter has had his fair share of controversies throughout the years. From the whole Britney Spears controversy to Gen-Z wanting to cancel the artist due to his previous troublesome behavior, it has not been surprising to see the artist’s name pop up in recent times. However, it looks like one incident, almost a decade ago, seemed to fly a little under most people’s radars.

In fact, it was one of Timberlake’s first public controversies. And the incident also ended up serving as one of those never-meet-your-heroes types of stories.

Justin Timberlake’s rude behavior at the 2007 VMAs

Back in 2007, when Timberlake, who recently surprised fans by showing up in a Netflix trailer, had broken away from his band, the singer was on a roll with hit after hit. So it was no surprise that he had not only been nominated for Male Artist of the Year but also ended up winning. But that is when everything seemed to spiral for the viewers as well as the presenters.

After Justin Timberlake’s win was announced, he made his way to the stage where The Hills stars Lauren Conrad, Audrina Patridge, and Whitney Port were waiting to present him with the award. But instead of accepting his award and making a thank you speech, the ‘Cry Me a River’ singer took the mic, talked about Chris Brown’s performance, and then seemed to shade the reality stars by saying, “Play more damn videos. I want to challenge MTV to play more videos.”

Since the reaction was pretty unprovoked, no one was sure what had just happened, and the room was filled with an awkward silence. No one addressed the incident for a while, but then one of the presenters decided to break their silence on the situation.

Justin Timberlake humiliated stars with a speech

Almost a year after the incident at the VMAs, Lauren Conrad, a reality star of The Hills, opened up about how she felt about Timberlake’s rude behavior. In an interview with US Weekly, the MTV star revealed that the singer “was a disappointment.”

The reality star also went on to say that the presenters were “excited to present him with an award”, but that all went downhill rather quickly. Conrad mentioned that Justin Timberlake had not even taken the award from the women and that the whole situation left her “feeling stupid.”

While it may have gone down in history as the moment Justin Timberlake insulted reality TV, for Lauren Conrad, it was the end of her childhood crush on the singer.

What do you think about Justin Timberlake’s behavior at the 2007 VMAs? Let us know in the comments below.