Timberlake rules out ’N Sync reunion at Super Bowl show

MINNEAPOLIS Justin Timberlake was asked about a bromance with Tom Brady, a possible ’N Sync reunion and serenaded with “Happy Birthday,” but the superstar didn’t get a question about the wardrobe malfunction that rocked the world during a press conference Thursday to promote his return to the Super Bowl halftime show.

Timberlake ruled out any chance his former boy band ’N Sync would join him on Sunday or other potential special guests would show up — including Janet Jackson herself. Timberlake revealed only that his band, The Tennessee Kids, would join him onstage and predicted a show that will include things “never done before.”

“It’s a moment where you have the opportunity to bring so many people together through what I think is the greatest art form, which is music,” he said. “And so that has been sort of the ethos of inspiration behind putting the set list together.”

Timberlake is returning to the halftime show 14 years after the “wardrobe malfunction” with Jackson caused a national controversy. He was not asked about the incident during the press availability.

Timberlake was Jackson’s special guest during her performance when he ripped off a piece of her clothing and revealed her bare, pierced nipple. Jackson later described it as an unintended “wardrobe malfunction.” CBS, which aired the Super Bowl that year, drew a $550,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission that was later overturned.