Michael Tran/FilmMagicWhen they were together, there’s no doubt the five members of *NSYNC got into some trouble now and then, but nothing’s as surreal as that one time Justin Timberlake and Joey Fatone got caught breaking into a prison. And not just any prison: Alcatraz.
Justin revealed this bit of information while playing a round of “Spill the Tea” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday. He explained that when *NSYNC was shooting the video for “This I Promise You” in San Francisco, he looked across the water and saw Alcatraz, and asked if anyone wanted to go with him to see it.
“At that time, I was watching The Untouchables over and over again, and I was obsessed with the fact that Al Capone was, y’know…they put him in Alcatraz,” Justin explained.
Joey said he’d go, so the two singers asked the local fire department if they’d give them a lift to the notorious prison, which they did — on a Coast Guard boat. But when they got there, Justin says, they hit a snag.
“We realize that on the mainland, you’re supposed to buy your tickets and then get on the ferry. So we get to the main gate and they’re like, ‘Tickets, please!'” After pulling the old “the guy behind me has the tickets” trick, Justin and Joey managed to sneak in, join one of the tour groups and start going through the prison.
“We had just gotten to Al Capone’s cell and we get, like, a tap on the shoulder and they’re like, “Come with me,'” Justin recalls. “And I was like, “‘Joe, we are going to go down in history as the dumbest people ever! We got caught breaking into a prison!'”
Luckily, they were let off with just a warning.
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