Justin Timberlake abruptly cancels one-off London show

Pop star was due to headline a rare, intimate show at the Roundhouse in Camden

Justin Timberlake has pulled out of his one-off show in London this evening.

The “Cry Me A River singer”, 43, has just announced a major new tour, including dates in the UK, to support his forthcoming album Everything I Thought It Was.

Last week, he told UK fans that they could get a chance to see him live at a one-night-only gig at London’s Roundhouse in Camden on 23 February – if they were lucky enough to score a free ticket in the ballot.

However, less than 24 hours before the show, Timberlake told followers that the show had been cancelled because he is “battling some kind of bug”.

In a video posted to Instagram on Thursday night (23 February), he said: “This is an unfortunate video I 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.”

“I’ve been here in London all week and was so excited to perform Roundhouse. But… I’ve been battling some kind of bug and I thought it was getting better but it took a turn for the worse.”

In a caption, he wrote: “Guys, I have the flu. I’m gutted that I have to do this.”

Justin Timberlake on ‘The Graham Norton’ show last week (Ian West/PA Wire)

Appearing on The Graham Norton Show on Friday night (16 February), Timberlake admitted he “almost didn’t make it” on the show “but was able to power through”.

“But this morning I woke up feeling worse than ever,” he said on the show.

He told fans on Thursday (22 February) that he felt “terrible” about cancelling the Roundhouse gig, and added: “I hope none of you get this flu.”

Timberlake will begin his Forget Tomorrow world tour in North America in April, which marks his first tour in five years.

On Friday morning, hours after cancelling his one-off gig, Timberlake announced that he will be returning to the UK over the summer for several tour dates after touring in Germany, Sweden, France and the UK. He will perform in Birmingham, Manchester and London in August.

Timberlake told fans his illness had taken a ‘turn for the worse’ (Instagram / @justintimberlake)

Timberlake has recently teased his forthcoming album Everything I Thought It Was, and has released two singles: “Selfish” and “Drown”.

Last month, the “Mirrors” singer performed a one-off surprise show at the Irving Plaza in New York City.

During his one-off gig in New York City, Timberlake took a break from singing at one point in the evening to speak directly to the crowd, where he declared he wanted to apologise to “absolutely f***ing nobody”.

It came days after his ex-girlfriend Britney Spears publicly apologised to him for what she wrote in her memoir The Woman in Me.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise to absolutely f***ing nobody,” he said into the microphone, as the band played the musical accompaniment of his 2013 Jay-Z collaboration “Holy Grail” in the background.

Many people have linked Timberlake’s bold non-apology to Spears’s recent statement.

Spears wrote about several aspects of her three-year relationship with Timberlake in the memoir, including opening up about her decision to have an abortion because Timberlake “definitely wasn’t happy” that she was pregnant.

“I wanna apologise for some of the things I wrote about in my book,” Spears captioned an Instagram post, shared on Sunday (28 January). “If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about, I am deeply sorry.”