Justin Timberlake had a surprising response to the drama surrounding Britney Spears’ tell-all memoir. Photo / Getty Images

Justin Timberlake has seemingly broken his silence in the aftermath of Britney Spears’ bombshell memoir after initially declining to comment on its shock claims.

On Thursday night, the NSYNC star sang his hit song Cry Me a River, which is said to be about his split with Spears.

According to concertgoers who were at the Las Vegas show, Timberlake alluded to the Circus singer before the track started, seemingly addressing the drama that erupted following the book’s release.

After taking hold of the mic, Timberlake told the crowd: “No disrespect,” although it’s unclear whether he was hinting at not meaning disrespect by singing the song, or whether he was asking the audience to keep it respectful towards his ex, reports news.com.au.

Regardless, it’s a surprising moment from Timberlake, who has made many not so nice comments about Spears in the past.

Timberlake and Spears were one of the most high-profile couples in the industry when they started going out in 1999, after first meeting as children while on The Mickey Mouse Club TV series.

Timberlake made headlines after the split when he cast a lookalike actress in the music video for Cry Me a River, which is about discovering that your partner has cheated on you.

Insiders originally alleged that Timberlake was “fuming” over the claims in Spears’ memoir, despite the fact the SexyBack singer had used her name many times over the years for press, while Spears had shared nothing but kind words.

After their split, Timberlake was bluntly asked: “Did you f**k Britney Spears?” while on radio station Hot 97. The singer was all-too-keen to be part of the discourse as he happily yelled: “OK, I did it!”

The boy band star was also accused of taking jabs at his ex during his 2007 tour, where he would sing mashups of Cry Me a River with songs such as Amy Winehouse’s Rehab and Crazy by Gnarls Barkley.

In The Woman In Me, Spears revealed she had fallen pregnant with Timberlake’s baby when they were in their late teens, but had got an abortion at his request.

“It was a surprise, but for me, it wasn’t a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day,” she wrote. “This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated. But Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy.

“He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young. I’m sure people will hate me for this, but I agreed not to have the baby. I don’t know if that was the right decision.”

She added: “If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.”

She went on to say that it was “one of the most agonising things I have ever experienced in my life”.