Singer said in a video that he’d been battling a bug all week and things “took a turn for the worse” on Friday morning (Feb. 23).

Justin Timberlake performs “Sanctified” on Saturday Night Live on Jan. 27, 2024.Will Heath/NBC/Getty Images

Justin Timberlake was scheduled to play a one-off show in London at the Roundhouse in Camden on Friday night (Feb. 23), but had to cancel the gig announced last week at the last minute due to illness. The singer revealed the news to fans in a video in which he apologized for the late notice.

“Hi everybody,” he said with a hoarse voice in the Instagram Story post. “This is an unfortunate video to have to send out, but I’m sure you can tell from the sound of things that I am not going to be able to make it to the show on Friday, which I’m gutted about.” He noted that he’s been in London all week and was “so excited” to perform at the legendary theater.

“But as you may or may not know, I’ve been battling some kind of bug,” he added. “And I thought it was getting better but it just took a turn for the worse.” He promised his London fans he would make it up to them, after he was able to “power through” his visit to Graham Norton’s chat show, which also nearly got scotched. But on Friday morning, he said he woke up feeling “worse than ever,” pledging that the next time he comes through he can hopefully make it up to them and “rock the Roundhouse” with his fans.

“But for now I feel terrible… I hope none of you get this flu,” he said.

Earlier this week, Timberlake posted a preview of his just-released new single, “Drown,” playing a bit of it solo on a piano while acknowledging his illness. “Made it out to London, still recovering from this flu. But trying to power through. So excited for new music and everything coming this week,” he wrote at the time.

The news came on the same day that JT released his introspective new single, “Drown,” the second song so far from his upcoming Everything I Thought It Was album (March 15); the first single, “Selfish,” debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Timberlake’s upcoming North American tour is slated to kick off on April 29 in Vancouver and keep him on the road through a July 9 gig in Lexington, KY before hopping over to Europe for his just-announced 13-gig run of overseas dates. The singer also recently expanded the North American run, adding 15 more shows that will keep him on the road through a Nov. 20 show at KFC Yum Center in Louisville, KY.