This Is Going to Ruin the Tour

Submission 24,285

Part of a series on Catchphrases. [View Related Entries]

About

This Is Going to Ruin the Tour is a quote reportedly spoken by Justin Timberlake to the police when he was pulled over for intoxicated driving in Sag Harbor, New York. The full context of the quote claims that Timberlake said under his breath, "This is going to ruin the tour," the cop asked, "What tour?" and Timberlake responded, "The world tour." Page Six reported the anecdote on June 18th, 2024, and it became the subject of ironic memes as a catchphrase over the following days, typically used as a slang term to express disappointment after an inconvenience.

Origin

On June 18th, 2024, Page Six^[1] reported that Justin Timberlake was arrested for intoxicated driving in Sag Harbor, New York and refused a breathalyzer test from the arresting officer. In their article, they report that the arresting officer was too young to recognize Timberlake's appearance or name. Page Six then reported that a second source told them that Timberlake said under his breath, "This is going to ruin the tour." The officer asked, "What tour?" Timberlake responded, "The world tour."

The quote gained viral spread online shortly after the article was published. One of the earliest notable accounts to share it was X^[2] user @MrPopOfficial, who simply shared a screenshot of the specific section of the article that day, garnering over 37,000 likes and 4,700 reposts in three days (shown below).

Spread

The quote continued to spread over the following days, inspiring memes. On June 18th, 2024, X^[3] user @NicosTwtAccount quote-reposted @MrPopOfficial's post, writing, "Gonna start saying 'this is going to ruin the tour' as a response to every slight inconvenience in my life," garnering over 227,000 likes in three days (shown below).

On June 19th, X^[4] user @whyrev made a nearly identical post, garnering over 232,000 likes in two days, which was reposted by Instagram^[5] user nosephora on June 20th, garnering over 20,000 likes in a day.

On June 20th, 2024, X^[6] user @musicstruggles1 posted the quote over a photo of Travis Scott's mugshot, which was taken after his arrest for disorderly intoxication, garnering over 226,000 likes in a day (shown below, left). Later that day, X^[7] user @queensofbravo posted a meme using the phrase that gained over 4,100 likes in a day (shown below, right).

Also on June 20th, X^[8] user @TweetPotato314 made a text post using the catchphrase in reference to Augustus Gloop falling into the chocolate river, a reference to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, garnering over 50,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Justin Timberlake Mugshot

Justin Timberlake Mugshot is a police booking photograph of American singer Justin Timberlake following his arrest for suspicion of driving while intoxicated (DWI, also known as a DUI) in June 2024. The singer's arrest garnered significant media attention shortly after, as well as becoming an exploitable meme format for various Photoshop edits and other memes across social media.