Singer Justin Timberlake apologized on Friday for what he called a "distasteful" video that features homeless people in Los Angeles congratulating him and new wife Jessica Biel on their wedding.
The video was made by a friend of Timberlake's and intended as a humorous gift for the couple's lavish wedding in Italy last week. The joke backfired when gossip website Gawker got hold of the video and celebrity news site TMZ.com tracked down one of the homeless men, who said he had been paid $40 for appearing in it.
In an open letter on his website, Timberlake said he had no knowledge of the video and "had absolutely ZERO contribution to it" but agreed that it was "distasteful" and was "made as a joke and not in any way in mockery."
Timberlake, 31, a former member of 1990s boy band N'Sync who has forged a Hollywood acting career, married Total Recall actress Biel, 30, in southern Italy last week.