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Abstract We compute the proper real-time interaction potential between a static quark and antiquark in classical lattice gauge theory at finite temperature. Our central result is the determination of the screened real-part of this potential, and we reconfirm the presence of an imaginary part. The real part is intimately related to the back-reaction of the static sources onto the gauge fields, incorporated via Gauss’s law. Differences in the treatment of static sources in quantum and classical lattice gauge theory are discussed.